THE STORYOF 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. „. Copyright No*—. 

8helt.„..vL_7 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



. -A* 




JESCS, A MODEL FOR PIOUS CHILDREN. 



THE STORY 



OF 



THE DIVINE CHILD. 



TOLD FOR CHILDREN IN PICTURES 
AND IN WORDS. 



BY 

Very Rev. Dean A* A. LINGS, 

Author of " Our Favorite Devotions" " Our Favorite Novenas," 
" Our Monthly Devoticns," etc. 



New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: 
BEN^IGER BROTHERS, 

Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 
I9OO. 
U 



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IKtibfl ©bstat. 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 

Library of ,- 



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tec 18 ipoq-. 

Register of Copyright*, 

EEMY LAFORT, 

Censor Librorum. 



Imprimatur : 



* MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, 

Archbishop of Neio York. 



New York, November 22, 1899. 




SECOND COPY, 



Copyright, 1899, by Benziger Brothers. 



CONTENTS, 



PAGE 

Necessity of a Divine Redeemer 5 

Prophetic Promises of a Redeemer 13 

Mary the Mother oiW/M. ^4^^^r^ff. 21 

The Birth of the Blessed Virgin 29 

Mary Retires to the Temple 34 

Mary's Life in the Temple 44 

The Marriage of the Blessed Virgin 53 

The Annunciation 60 

The Birth of St. John Foretold 71 

The Visitation 77 

The Birth of St. John 84 

The Nativity of Our Lord 90 

The Adoration of the Shepherds 99 

The Magi 109 

The Circumcision 125 

The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. 

The Purification of the Blessed Virgin 129 

Massacre of the Holy Innocents 134 

The Flight into Egypt 138 

The Life of Our Lord in Nazareth. The Holy Family. 141 

Jesus among the Doctors 146 

The Boyhood of Jesus 152 

" Jesus Waxed and Grew Strong" 158 

The Piety of Joseph and Mary 166 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Holy House of Loretto 169 

The Death of St. Joseph 172 

The Great Graces of St. Joseph's Soul 176 

The Devotion to the Infant Jesus 179 

The Miraculous Statue of the Infant of Prague 182 

The Child Jesus as God. 188 

The Sacred Heart of the Infant Jesus , : . . 193 

The Child Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament 197 

The Child Jesus in the Hearts of Little Ones 202 

Jesus the Model of Purity 205 

Jesus at Prayer ............. 212 

The Humility of the Child Jesus. .......... 217 

The Obedience of the Child Jesus. .7. 223 

Jesus the Model of Industry. ■..,,..,..,... 229 

The Mortification of the Child Jesus .-,.... 237 

The Charity of the Child Jesus.. . . 244 

The Zeal of the Child Jesus . 251 

The Infant Jesus and the Saints 257 




STORY OF THE DIVINE CHILD. 



Wecessit£ of a H>t\nne IRe&eemer, 

We learn from Holy Scripture that many, many 
years ago God created heaven and earth ; that He 
made the fields and caused grass to grow upon the 
face of the earth; that He stocked the waters with 
fishes and the land with animals, and, lastly, that 
He placed on this earth an intelligent being called 
man. 

There is then a God, an intelligent, supreme 
Being, infinite in power and in wisdom, who 
can call into existence from nothing a living 
being ; who knew just how He wanted this crea- 
ture and for what purpose he was destined. It 
certainly requires an infinite power to make some- 
thing out of nothing; it requires an infinite power 
to make a dumb animal, not to speak of a rational 
animal, such as man. None of these things 
can come into existence of themselves; from 

5 



6 NECESSITY OF A DIVINE BEDEEMER. 

nothing nothing can come. In man the develop- 
ment of life in nature reaches its highest perfec- 
tion. 

But what is this intelligent being, man, for 
whom the world was made ? He must be a very 
important being when he acquires such dominion 
in this world, that you might say the world be- 
longs to him; and faith steps in and tells us that 
God is the origin and end of man. It teaches us 
the personal union of a material body and of a 
spiritual, free, responsible, immortal soul. 

The creation of the world and of Adam and Eve 
is clearly narrated in sacred Scriptures, and 
there it is claimed that God directly created our 
first parents; hence we may know that all the 
many millions of human beings who now live in 
this world are descendants of that first man and 
first woman, Adam and Eve. 

Man has a soul and a body; with the soul he 
knows God the Creator, loves Him and serves Him, 
and because that soul is immortal, can never die, 
he expects also always to serve God in heaven. The 
body is useful to the soul in giving it a habitation, 
in giving it the external expression of senses, in 
giving it an opportunity to live in society. But 
this body is very short-lived; very few of the 
human race reach a hundred years; after that they 



NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REDEEMER. 7 

are carried out to the graveyard, and that is their 
end as far as this world is concerned. But the 
soul will live on for untold centuries, for a coming 
eternity ; in fact will never die. 

When the world had been prepared for the habi- 
tation of man almighty God also planted a garden 
for him, Eden or paradise, and we believe that 
garden to have been supremely beautiful; the 
sun shone there always; the climate was temper- 
ate; plants grew in magnificence, and animals of 
the stateliest kind came there to serve man. In 
our day only a few animals, such as the horse, the 
cow, serve man; the others are wild and fierce, and 
not only do .not obey man, but threaten his life. 
Adam and Eve were placed in this beautiful gar- 
den ; this park so magnificent that the expensive 
parks of the present day are not to be compared to 
it. The whole world was probably a paradise; 
everything was beautiful, was perfect. Man was 
therefore relatively a perfect being of his kind. 
It is inconceivable that the human mind could 
have raised itself to its present heights from a low, 
degraded, barbarous state. God would not create 
a being of that kind and then bring it by degrees 
out of the depths of misery to a higher perfection. 
The first man came forth from the hands of God 
perfect and in the height and fulness of life. In 



8 NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REDEEMER. 

His infinite love and wisdom God created marl 
for a definite end and purpose: so that the soul 
is the image of God and as such must tend to God 
as its author. 

How long man is in this world the Scriptures 
tell us : it is not really very long ; six thousand 
years may look long to us, but what is that in com- 
parison to the millions of years it took to bring the 
world to its present condition ? And many people 
have lived on this earth since the creation of our 
first parents ; millions upon millions have been 
born and have gone into eternity. They were once 
here, they received the benefit of the coming of 
the Redeemer; but passed away never to return. 

When Adam and Eve were placed in paradise 
they felt all the happiness of youth, plenty, and 
joyousness, and their souls were filled by the con- 
solation of God. God came from heaven and visi- 
bly walked with our first parents in paradise; God 
was pleased with His whole creation, but especially 
with man, for here were intelligent beings who 
could appreciate what God had created: these in- 
telligent beings could look into the depths of the 
mysteries of God, could recognize the greatness 
and magnificence of His work in the creation of 
the universe. The intelligent creatures God had 
made were not necessary to His glory and happi- 



NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REDEEMER. 9 

ness, but He in His goodness wished that others 
also should see His greatness and admire it. 

One day almighty God placed a very slight ob- 
ligation on His favorites in paradise in order to 
try them, to see whether they deserved still greater 
favors. The command which God gave our first 
parents was that they should not eat of the for- 
bidden fruit, as is told in the second and third 
chapters of Genesis in the Old Testament: 

"And the Lord God took man, and put him into 
the paradise of pleasure, to dress it and to keep it: 
And He commanded him saying: Of every tree 
of paradise thou shalt eat. But of the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat. 
For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou 
shalt die the death. Now the serpent was more 
subtle than any of the beasts of the earth, which 
the Lord God had made. And He said to the 
woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you 
should not eat of every tree of paradise ? And 
the woman answered him saying : Of the fruit 
of the trees that are in paradise, we do eat: But of 
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of 
paradise, God hath commanded us that we should 
not eat: and that we should not touch it, lest 
perhaps we die. And the serpent said to the 
woman: Wo, you shall not die the death. For God 



10 NECESSITY OF A DIVINE EEDEEMER. 

doth know that in what day soever you shall eat 
thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall 
be as gods, knowing good and evil. And the 
woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair 
to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she 
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave 
to her husband, who did eat. And the eyes of 
them both were opened: and when they perceived 
themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig- 
leaves and made themselves aprons. And when 
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in 
paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife 
hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, 
amidst the trees of paradise. And the Lord God 
called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou ? 
And he said: I heard Thy voice in paradise: and 
I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid my- 
self. And He said to him: And who hath told 
thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast 
eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that 
thou shouldst not eat ? And Adam said : The 
woman, whom thou gayest me to be my com- 
panion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the 
Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done 
this? And she answered: The serpent deceived 
me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said to the 
serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou 



NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REDEEMER. 11 

art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the 
earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth 
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put 
enmities between thee and the woman, and thy 
seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and 
thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. To the woman 
also He said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy 
conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth 
children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's 
power, and he shall have dominion over thee. 
And to Adam He said: Because thou hast heark- 
ened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of 
the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou 
shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: 
with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the 
days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring 
forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the 
earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread, till thou return to the earth, out of which 
thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust 
shalt thou return." 

How clearly does this history show the fall of 
Adam and Eve from grace! They had turned their 
back on God and dreadfully did God punish them 
for it, for again we read: "Lo, Adam is become 
as one of us, knowing good and evil; now, there- 
fore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take 



12 NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REDEEMER. 

also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. 
And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise 
of pleasure to till the earth from which he was 
taken. And He cast out Adam, and placed before 
the jDaradise of pleasure Cherubim and a flaming 
sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the 
tree of life." 

The fall of Adam and Eve brought not only 
many misfortunes on themselves, but on all the 
human race which came after them. The foun- 
tain was poisoned in itself so that nothing but evil 
could emanate from it; the whole human race 
was bad in the eyes of God. 



ptopbetic promises of a 1Re&eemer, 

The human race had chosen evil, and it went 
from bad to worse. A few years after Adam and 
Eve were driven from paradise, they had the ter- 
rible sorrow of seeing the first murder committed. 
Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy; more 
and more was the knowledge of God forsaken, the 
human race sank into barbaric ignorance in which 
cruelty, slavery, war, and robbery became of fre- 
quent occurrence. Surely the human race needed a 
Saviour who would reinstate them in the favor of 
God. In fact that was the first promise made to 
Adam and Eve even at the very time when pun- 
ishment was meted out to them: for the Lord 
said to the devil: "I will put enmities between 
thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; 
she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in 
wait for her heel." 

Satan tempted the woman Eve, our first mother; 
he disguised himself -in the form of a serpent, and 
the prophecy is addressed to him, in the form of 
a serpent, He triumphed not only over the 

13 



14 PROPHETIC PROMISES OF A REDEEMER. 

woman but over the man through her. Between 
the woman and Satan enmity is placed by God 
Himself, and between his seed and her seed. From 
that time Adam and Eve began to hope that the 
day would come when they would be reinstated 
in the grace of God. In fact, then and there 
almighty God offered them pardon for the sin, at 
least if they believed in a future Redeemer, the 
Incarnate Son of God. The faith of the whole 
ancient world rested on the revelation expressed 
in those words of God. It was on this that Adam 
and Eve fed their hopes day by day, during their 
long years of penance. This was the object of the 
faith in which Abel offered his acceptable sacri- 
fice of the firstlings of his flock. It w r as this that 
kept up the faith and animated the religious ser- 
vice and the practice of virtue of the long line of 
the patriarchs before the Deluge and after it. The 
words, " I will put enmities between thee and the 
woman and between thy seed and her seed," etc., 
mean that a child of that woman is also promised 
a victory over Satan. It is Mary with her Child 
in her arms, or Mary standing at the foot of the 
cross. This hope was the foundation of the whole 
religious life of the patriarchs ; with time the 
image grew, and whenever the human heart made 
an act of faith, or offered its sorrow for sin to God 



PROPHETIC PROMISES OF A REDEEMER. 1 5 

ill an act of worship or sacrifice, that act con- 
tained a memory of the words first spoken to 
Adam and Eve. Men at that time lived in the 
hope of the coming Redeemer. 

People had become very wicked, and the few 
who kept the light of faith burning in their hearts 
must have sighed for the coming of the good God 
to redeem them. There had been cruel wars which 
had slaughtered hundreds of thousands in battle; 
whole nations were overturned, human sacrifices 
were offered; the most abject slavery was prac- 
tised, the whole world was in a frightful confusion 
of vice: it was like a pandemonium, with all the 
devils of hell let loose and delighted to see their 
diabolical work going on so well. 

But the promise of the coming Redeemer was 
not only made to our first parents, it was repeated 
and emphasized at different times after the Flood 
to the patriarchs. When Abraham was chosen by 
God to be the father of many nations as a reward 
for his faith, it was said : " In thee shall all the 
kindreds of the earth be blessed." And to him 
was given the sign of circumcision to show him 
that from his seed the Redeemer should spring: 
and thus a particular race and visible society of 
men was separated from the rest as the heirs of 
a special promise, and a covenant on the part of 



16 PROPHETIC PROMISES OF A REDEEMER, 

God. These promises were repeated to Isaac and 
Jacob, and in case of Juda the son of. Jacob was 
said, " the sceptre shall not be taken away from 
Juda nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that 
is to be sent, and He shall be the expectation of 
nations." Then appeared Moses: he was the de- 
liverer of the people from the bondage of Egypt: 
he was the lawgiver of the Jewish nation ; by a 
series of unexampled prodigies he was their guide 
and support during forty years of their pilgrimage 
in the desert. 

In course of time even the particular family is 
designated from which the Kedeemer should ap- 
pear. Jesus is not merely to be the Son of David, 
He is to be the King of whom David was to be 
the prototype. David often spoke in his Psalms 
of the coming Messias. 

The prophet Isaias, the evangelist of the Old 
Testament, speaks almost exclusively of the com- 
ing Kedeemer. He describes His glory and even 
His ignominious death; in one place he says: 
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the 
root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his 
root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon 
Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the 
spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of 
knowledge and of godliness, and' He shall be filled 



VJ 





THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, 



PROPHETIC PROMISES OF A REDEEMER. 17 

with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. For a 
Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, and 
the government is upon His shoulders, and His 
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God 
the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the 
Prince of peace. He shall sit upon the throne of 
David." 

In the same manner other prophets also spoke, 
and so through the whole Old Testament we find 
the promise of the Messias, His near approach, 
and the invitation to prepare for His coming. We 
read in Scripture that when Herod was look- 
ing for the place of the birth of the new King of 
Jerusalem in order to give the desired informa- 
tion to the Magi, these words were quoted to him 
from the prophet Micheas : u And thou Bethle- 
hem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands 
of Juda ; out of thee shall He come forth unto Me 
that is to be the ruler in Israel, and His going 
forth is from the beginning, from the days of eter- 
nity." 

And the last of the prophets of the Old Testa- 
ment says : " Behold, I send My Angel and he 
shall prepare the way before My face. And pres- 
ently the Lord whom ye seek and the Angel of 
the testament whom you desire, shall come to His 
temple. Behold He cometh, saith the Lord of 



18 PROPHETIC PROMISES OF A REDEEMER. 

hosts. From the rising of the sun, even unto 
the going down, My name is great among the 
Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice and 
there is offered to My name a clean offering, for 
My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the 
Lord of hosts." 

Thus with figures and prophecies the mind of 
the Hebrew reader of the sacred Scriptures was 
continually turned towards that great fact, the 
coming of the Messias. 

These considerations on which, my dear chil- 
dren, we have so imperfectly dwelt, will help us 
to see how very completely the w r ork of prepara- 
tion of the chosen people was conducted by al- 
mighty God Himself. I have but touched upon 
the various heads and will leave the rest to your 
future study in the Catechism, where all these 
things will be taught you. God has done all that 
was to be done for His vineyard. We may be cer- 
tain, therefore, that there were hearts and souls 
ready to welcome Our Lord and His Church when 
the fulness of time came, and that their readiness 
was the fruit of faithfulness to God's word. 
These good people became in turn the teachers 
of the world outside of Israel, so that many na- 
tions treasured in their writings or in their sayings 



PROPHETIC PROMISES OF A REDEEMER. 19 

a hint as to the coming of One who would again 
make the world happy. 

He that is to come must be the great God : the 
prophecies tell us of this: there is never a ques- 
tion that some mere human nature was able to 
undertake the salvation of man and reconcile 
fallen man to God. Every human soul needed 
that redemption, could only make atonement for 
itself — and not even that ; for what is man that 
he can satisfy God ? What was demanded was 
that a human being and at the same time a God 
should offer Himself for the expiation of human 
degradation. And none such could be found but 
in Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, both God 
and man. The Second Person of the Blessed Trin- 
ity, full of affliction for His creatures, had offered 
Himself as a sacrifice: "Behold, I come/' He said 
to the Father. It is therefore a God who is to be 
born in the world, but at the same time He is 
to be a man of the race of Adam and Eve. No 
other being but God Himself could make atone- 
ment to God. When the Bedeemer shall then be 
born, we have none other to expect than God 
Himself, and all the angels will adore Him, say- 
ing, here on earth as they do in heaven: "Holy, 
holy, holy, the Lord God of armies/' 



20 PROPHETIC PROMISES OF J. REDEEMER, 

This work of the redemption of man is the 
greatest of the works of God on this earth, greater 
than the creation of a universe, and we stand in 
mute astonishment when we think of it. 



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One great preparation which. God made for the 
coming of His Son into this world was the selec- 
tion of a suitable Mother for Him : He was to be 
born in the flesh of the race of Adam, and of the 
family of David. We cannot imagine that the 
Mother of God could be an ordinary woman, she 
must have superhuman prerogatives ; God must 
have built her with the power of His omnipotence 
and made her in every way worthy of the duty of 
becoming the Mother of God. 

Let us see what the Church, the Scriptures, and 
the piety of the faithful think of that great being, 
the Mother of God : 

The Son of God, the eternal Son of the Father, 
when He became man, the illuminating Sun of the 
earth, the true light, selected for Himself a mes- 
senger who was to go before His face and proclaim 
the hour of His approach. In that harmony with 
which almighty God binds together the things 
of heaven and the things of earth, He selected the 
name of the woman who was to herald His coming 

21 



22 MART THE MOTHER OF GOD. 

and called her in Syriac Miriam, the star rising in 
darkness; hence we may apply to her as well as to 
St. John the prophecy of the Scripture, " like the 
morning star in the midst of the cloud: like the 
moon in the midst of her rays, like the sun when 
he shines, so did she shine in the temple of God: 
the promise of hope and of light." 

When the beloved disciple of Our Lord, the 
evangelist, wrote the Apocalypse, in which he was 
privileged to stand at the very portals of heaven 
and see the glory of God's court, and look back 
before the mountains were formed, before the hills 
were set upon their bases, the veil was lifted from 
his eyes and he beheld, as he described, " a great 
sign which appeared in heaven: a woman clothed 
with the sun and the moon under her feet, and 
on her head a crown of twelve stars." This woman 
was Mary, the Queen of heaven, the Morning 
Star. 

The Church applies to Mary the words of Holy 
Scripture: "I was set up from eternity, and of 
old before the earth was made; before the hills 
I was brought forth. He had not yet made the 
earth nor the rivers." Before an angel in heaven 
contemplated the perfections of adorable divinity, 
Mary occupied the first place in the mind, and in 
the designs of the eternal Father, robed with the 



MART THE MOTHMi OF GOD. ^3 

glory of her divine Son, the moon beneath her 
feet, that is, this earth in which we live; she is 
the Queen of the universe, the Mother of its King, 
Jesus Christ. Every child of the human race is 
born in sin. David says of himself: " Behold, I 
was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my 
mother conceive me." All human beings are in 
the same condition, but of Mary the Scriptures 
say: " Thou art all fair, My love, and there is 
not a spot in thee." Mary was preserved from all 
sin, before her conception and in her conception. 

How well the name of Morning Star befits her ! 
How beautiful, in our loneliness, the name of Mary 
falls on our ears! Mary came, and Jesus Christ the 
Son of God came with her. 

The one great grace which Mary received then 
to prepare her for the incarnation of the Son of 
God was that from eternity she was in the mind 
of God a pure and holy creature ; that the devil 
should never have a claim on her, for never should 
she be in his power. 

Jesus Christ coming to redeem a sinful race 
takes His body from that race, but it is united to 
His divinity and whatever comes in contact with 
that must also be holy; the Mother must of neces- 
sity be pure and immaculate. We know that when 
almighty God calls a creature to any dignity, or 



24 MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD. 

to any office, He bestows on that creature graces 
which are necessary to fulfil all the duties con- 
nected with the office. So we read of the prophet 
Jeremias: " The word of the Lord came to me 
saying, Before thou earnest forth out of the womb 
I sanctified thee and made thee a prophet unto 
the nations/' We read the same of the birth of St. 
John the Baptist: he was sanctified before his birth 
by Our Lord Himself, so as to show the dignity 
of his calling, his worthiness to be the precursor 
of the Eedeemer. Therefore, the Almighty by 
His prophet says: "The Lord possessed me in 
the beginning of His ways, before He made any- 
thing from the beginning." Deprive Mary of the 
grace of the Immaculate Conception, let the 
slightest taint of s'n come upon her, and she is 
spoiled of her beauty ; like each one of us she 
would be a sinful creature. 

Mary's connection with the mystery of the in- 
carnation may be considered in two ways; one in 
relation to God, the other in relation to man. In 
her relation to God, as soon as she was born into 
this world, from the moment she raised her 
virginal eyes to heaven, her sweet and pure rela- 
tion with God began, and His gifts and graces 
were showered upon her. The gifts that Mary 
received were intended as a preparation for the 



MART THE MOTHER OF GOB. 25 

divine crowning grace, the gift of divine mater- 
nity. Mary's graces began even before she was 
born. In view of the high designs He had for 
her, God began her life with a grace more grand 
than ever before vouchsafed to human creature: 
she was conceived free from the taint of original 
sin. For Mary the mystery of the incarnation 
was the great cause of her freedom from sin. Her 
virginal bosom was the only home worthy of a 
God. For four thousand years darkness over- 
shadowed the world, and the face of God was hid- 
den from His creatures in anger and aversion. 
Now at length was the Morning Star to rise, the 
forerunner of a glorious day when the Lord was 
to be born. What great, beautiful, holy thoughts 
could we not multiply on this subject — Mary the 
Mother of God ! 

Joachim and Ann were the father and the 
mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were a holy 
couple and practised all the virtues, and almighty 
God gave them special graces that they might live 
lives which were the holier for the honor of their 
daughter, Mary : they both have become great ad- 
vocates before God in all our necessities. Catholic 
people have taken up the devotion to St. Joachim 
and St. Ann ; have cultivated it and propagated 
it, so that at Brittany, in France, we see a great 



26 MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD. 

pilgrimage to the good St. Ann, and on this side 
of the Atlantic, in Canada, not far from Quebec, 
some of that devotion has been transferred, which 
brings hundreds of thousands of pious people to 
these shrines. We, too, if we have the means, may- 
be tempted to make that pilgrimage some day 
when we grow older; but we need not go so far, 
for in New York there is a portion of the arm of 
St. Ann in the Church of St. John the Baptist. 
It is said that great miracles have occurred there 
through the intercession of this saint. At any 
rate, let us follow the example of pious people, 
and when we have any necessities, spiritual ones 
especially, let us ask the help of this good saint in 
obtaining them for us: the intercession of a great 
saint is very powerful before God, and we shall 
more easily obtain what we need than if we relied 
solely on our own prayers. 

In the city of Nazareth there lived a man, 
Joachim, who had married a girl of Bethlehem, 
and both were of the tribe of David, and lived 
in Nazareth, where they had their little home, 
and served the Lord " with singleness of heart/ 3 
What they had of this world's goods they shared 
with the poor, and for the maintenance of the 
house of the Lord, and for His service. They 
were getting old, and no child had yet blessed 



MART THE MOTHER OF GOD. 2 



z i 



their home, though the}' had prayed without 
ceasing. It was an affliction which God had 
placed on them for His own purposes. We are 
told that at length the good Ann felt persuaded 
that her tears and prayers were heard; they were 
a worthy father and mother of the Mother of 
Jesus ; their virtues were not to go unrewarded. 
God took this holy couple and made use of them 
for the purposes of His holy providence in regard 
to His Son, who was about to come into the world 
in the incarnation. 

A child was horn to them; the name of Mary 
was given to her, and she was presented in the 
Temple. 

Direct thy glance, Christian soul, to Mary 
immaculate and learn the priceless value of inno- 
cence and freedom from sin. For although we are 
conceived and born in sin, the great and miracu- 
lous sacrament of baptism cleanses us from it and 
once more restores innocence to our souls, so that 
when in the state of grace our hearts are the tem- 
ples of the holy Trinity. Happy indeed is the 
Christian soul which keeps intact its baptismal 
innocence; happy the soul that through grace is 
again under the influence of God. 0, holy and 
immaculate Virgin Mary ! I fly to thee bathed 
in tears of repentance, like an erring and contrite 



28 MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD, 

child to the bosom of its mother. Look with com- 
passion on me ! Present my necessities to the 
adorable Child and obtain relief for me. 



Ube 3Birtb of tbe DBlesset) Within, 

It was about the beginning of the month Tisri, 
which is the first of the civil year of the Jews, 
that the holy Virgin came into this world. Her 
birth, like that of her divine Son, was humble; 
her parents were of the people, although descended 
from a long line of kings, and they led, to all ap- 
pearances, an obscure life ; that Mystical Eose, 
whom St. John afterwards beheld clothed with 
the sun as with a radiant garment, w^as to be 
realized now. The cradle of the Queen of angels 
was not adorned with gold nor covered with the 
richly embroidered quilts of Egypt; it was the 
cradle of the common people of that country. 

When eight days were over in the case of a fe- 
male child, the relatives assembled in the home, 
and then a name was given to the new-born babe. 
Then, eighty days after the birth of a daughter, 
the ^Jewish woman was solemnly purified. She 
went to the Temple and there through the priest 
she offered up her child to God, according to the 
law of Moses, and made an offering of a lamb or a 

29 



30 THE BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

dove. The rich also made other offerings; the poor 
bought a pair of doves at the gates of the Temple 
for a very small sum of money. But the gratitude 
of the pious mother went still further than the 
customary sacrifice: she offered to the Lord a vic- 
tim more pure, a dove more innocent than any 
which fell bleeding at the sacrifice; she laid at 
the foot of the altar of the Most High the child 
whom He had given her, and solemnly promised 
to bring back her daughter to the Temple and to 
consecrate her to the service of the holy place, as 
soon as her mind was capable of serving God. 

The ceremony being finished, the holy couple 
made their way back to their own country. There 
it was that this child of benediction passed her 
early years, growing up like one of those lilies 
whose loveliness is praised by Jesus Christ, and 
which, as St. Bernard says, have " the odor of 
hope " about them. 

The Scripture says nothing of the infancy of 
Mary, but is not this silence full of much subject 
for proper meditation ? She was then already full 
of grace, so that her life had in it more of heaven 
than of earth. She was always in the presence of 
God, the love of God was the one absorbing 
thought of her life. In appearance like a child 
or a young girl, her manner was not much dif- 



THE BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 31 

i'erent from that of others of her age. But her 
graces and her virtues grew every day ; like the 
Lord Himself, of whom she was a perfect picture, 
she grew in grace before God and man. All that 
is said of good children, but in a superior degree, 
were united in this little child Mary. She was the 
model of good children: and as they begin to love 
God early in life, so she served God with an angelic 
purity. In her all virtues shone out with a per- 
fect and harmonious lustre. Good children are 
like bright stars on a dark night. How much 
more did the virtues of this blessed child brighten 
up the darkness of the world of her time ! Her 
loveliness is beyond all comparison. The only 
Child who surpasses Mary is the Infant Jesus. 
Jesus is the Sun of Justice, Mary is a perfect re- 
flection of that glory. Whatever we may imagine 
of the Infant Jesus that is beautiful be not afraid 
to apply to the child Mary. Satan must have 
been struck with the virtues of this holy child 
Mary: but he could not approach to do her harm, 
for she was protected by almighty God. In Mary 
there were no evil inclinations, no concupiscence, 
nothing disturbed the serenity and peace of her 
soul. The false attractions and false principles 
of the world had no effect on her. Whether she 
ate or drank, or amused herself, it was all for the 



32 THE BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

glory of God. She recognized God in His creation. 
She loved her parents, was as affectionate and 
tender to them as a child should be, she was ever 
ready to do them whatever service lay in her 
power. There was nothing in which she fell short 
of the expectations her parents had of her ; she 
fulfilled the duties of her station of life perfectly; 
whatever they wanted was clone at once; whatever 
she was to learn, she acquired without delay. 
Sometimes she was saddened at the wickedness of 
the people of this world who forgot their God, 
who disobeyed His commands. She felt sympathy 
for these benighted people and interceded for 
them. Ah, she felt herself really an exile from 
the vision of God on earth. She sighed for the 
coming of the promised Eedeemer who was to free 
the poor human race from the slavery of Satan 
and make them happy children of God. She knew 
that the Eedeemer of mankind was soon to come, 
but when it was to be accomplished and what were 
the designs of God she knew not, but she con- 
tinued to pray. 

Mary's understanding, like the day in some 
favored regions, had scarcely a dawn, and shone 
out clearly from her earliest childhood. Her 
fervor and the wisdom of her discourse, at a period 
when other children still enjoy only a purely 



H* *, 




THE SHEPHERDS ADORE THE INFANT JESUS. 



THE BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 33 

physical existence, made her parents judge that 
the time of their separation was near at hand; and 
when Joachim had offered to the Lord, for the 
third time since the birth of his daughter, the 
first-fruits of the crops and the fruits of his small 
inheritance, the husband and wife gratefully set 
out for Jerusalem, taking with them their beloved 
child, to deposit within the sacred precincts of 
the Temple their treasure which they had received 
from the God of Israel. 

St. Ambrose says of Mary about this stage of 
her life, that " her charming exterior was but a 
transparent veil which disclosed all her virtues: 
and her soul, the noblest and purest ever created, 
after the soul of Jesus Christ, revealed itself fully 
in her looks. Her presence seemed to sanctify 
all about her, and the very sight of her was suf- 
ficient to detach the mind from earthly things." 



flDars IRetires to tbe TTemple, 



The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. 

Three years had passed since the birth of 
Mary, and she was beginning to show her intelli- 
gence. Mary's heart sighed for the service of 
God in retirement, her mind was then where her 
treasure was. Often in her innocent way would 
she touch on the subject that she was dedicated 
to the service of the Temple; she would innocently 
ask whether the time was not come when she 
might fulfil her irresistible desire and the promise 
of her parents. It was sad to think of this part- 
ing. But though no fonder heart than St. Ann's 
ever beat in mother's breast, she submitted with 
cheerfulness to the trial and was at once prepared 
to offer up her daughter to the service of God. 
Well she understood that this darling of her heart 
was not altogether her own; she was only a charge 
confided to her by Heaven to be brought up for 
the honor of God and the salvation of the child. 

34 



MARY RETIRES TO THE TEMPLE. 35 

She knew that it was divine Providence who fom 
years previous had led her to pronounce this vow: 
and that now its fulfilment was required. She 
fully understood that the ways of Providence, al- 
though obscure and mysterious to our mortal eyes, 
always lead in* the end to a good purpose. Mary 
would find in the Temple true happiness and every 
advantage of body and mind. 

In this departure of Mary to the Temple there 
is a great source of serious thought for us all. We 
should consider with what cheerfulness we ought 
to make the sacrifice to God of anything we have 
promised ; and remember never lightly to make 
these promises nor lightly to break them. Do not 
forget that when children follow out their voca- 
tion they should as far as possible do so with the 
consent of their parents, who should be persuaded 
to agree to the wishes of their children, and be 
reconciled to the will of God. 

Parents should learn that they must not oppose 
their children^ vocation from mere selfish motives 
nor for an earthly purpose; but wdiatever it costs, 
even to the breaking of their hearts, they should 
look only to the glory of God. Here then is a 
great school of wisdom for all who have to decide 
a vocation. This is so important an act for the 
temporal, and especially the spiritual, welfare of 



36 MART RETIRES TO THE TEMPLE. 

the human being that it should not be done lightly 
or carelessly. 

What a beautiful spectacle of devotion and self- 
sacrifice we often witness in our generous 
Catholics, young and old, especially when sons 
and daughters of wealthy families, to whom the 
world with all its attractions stands open, receiv- 
ing the call from above, with true heroism enter 
the ranks of the priesthood or sisterhood ! Like 
Mary going to the Temple, they dedicate them- 
selves to the service of God. 

Having before them a journey of several days, 
Joachim and Ann, with the child, descended the 
woody slopes of Carmel into the charming plains 
which extend between the mountains of Palestine 
and the coasts of Syria, that fair region whose 
climate is so mild that the orange tree blossoms in 
the depth of winter. Along this route were groves 
of palms, pomegranates, and the dark olive; water- 
courses well supplied in winter with running water 
and overhung by graceful willows. Now they were 
about to ascend the hill on which stands Jerusa- 
lem, the city of God. Here all was changed : no 
more flowers, but sterile rocks, deep ravines, with 
few patches of land; the whole country one rocky 
surface. On this stands the beautiful city of Je- 
rusalem, the vision of God. There were enormous 



MA11Y RETIBES TO THE TEMPLE. 37 

towers, magnificent palaces, fortified citadels. There 
stood the Temple of God, radiant with gold. So 
thickly was the Temple covered with plates of gold 
that when day began to appear it was no less daz- 
zling than the rising sun. Let us take a nearer 
view of this great Temple of God, the future home 
of the Blessed Virgin. Our children, too, ought 
to know a little something about it, for it will be 
interesting and you will find that it will clear up 
many things in the Scripture and the Catechism 
that would otherwise be unintelligible. 

A triple enclosure of massive stone walls with 
ninety forts encompassed that singular city, and 
all around it lay gloomy valleys, dizzy heights, and 
inaccessible rocks. A stately and warlike city 
which seemed as though it were transported by 
magic from fabulous region; this is Jerusalem, 
which even at the present day in its fallen state 
is known as the u holy city," and is held in such 
veneration that when pilgrims come to the place 
and set foot on the ground for the first time they 
prostrate themselves and kiss that sacred soil. 

Having passed the magnificent gate, by which 
they had to enter the city, Joachim and Ann found 
themselves in the city of dark streets, bordered by 
heavy-looking houses with very few windows. 
There are not many windows in Eastern houses; air 



38 MART RETIRES TO THE TEMPLE. 

is reached and breathed from the tops of houses, 
on the flat roofs of which the people enjoy them- 
selves and are free from the turmoil of the busy 
streets. Within this city, on an elevation of 
Mount Moria, was the Temple. Its history takes 
up very much of the Scriptures, because they tell 
us, from the time of Moses to the building of the 
Temple, of all the regulations that w r ere made 
for its erection, its maintenance, and repairs. The 
Temple of Jerusalem was the great holy place to 
which every Jew looked with fascination, and con- 
sidered himself happy if he could say he had visited 
it once in his lifetime. That Temple had under- 
gone many changes: it had been destroyed and 
rebuilt. Solomon made it beautiful, and the w r ork 
of after times could not compare with his. This 
Temple was within the city and w r as surrounded 
by an outer wall; it had courtyards and enclosures. 
The enclosure of strangers or those who were not 
JeW'S ; enclosures where the cattle necessary for 
the sacrifice were kept, and several others for dif- 
ferent uses. There was the porch of the Gentiles, 
where a Gentile, or one who w r as not a Jew, had to 
stop; it w^as death to go further. There was 
Solomon's porch ; there the great Jew r and the 
pious Jew posed to be admired by the passers- 
by; there they met and made arrangements for 



MAUY BET J RES TO THE TEMPLE. 39 

union sacrifices for the benefit of a whole 
family. 

From the middle of the Gentiles' porch arose 
two other enclosures, both sacred, which eonlposed 
the Temple. The Temple was perfectly square, 
and ten gates gave access to the interior, where 
only Jews could be admitted. Jewish women 
could not enter a church either: even to the pres- 
ent day a woman must go to the galleries, or the 
enclosure for women, whilst a man, wearing a high 
hat, goes to the body of the synagogue. So in the 
Temple of Jerusalem there was a woman^s enclos- 
ure. The sons and husbands could approach closer 
to the Holy of holies ; women prayed apart in 
upper galleries. 

Of course the ceremony of the presentation took 
place in the woman's gallery: it was begun with 
a sacrifice. The priests and the Levites, assem- 
bled in the inner enclosure, received the victim 
from the hands of Joachim. The priest wore a 
turban of thick linen; he had on a tunic or a 
long garment, like our alb, held at the waist by 
a sky-blue cincture. One of the priests took the 
lamb and, after a short invocation, slaughtered it, 
turning his head towards the north; the blood 
was caught in a vase of brass and sprinkled around 
the Temple. These preliminary rites being per- 



40 MABY BETIBES TO THE TEMPLE. 

formed, a golden dish was arranged with a portion 
of the flesh of the sacrifice. The priest wrapped the 
oblation in a coat of fat, covered it with incense, 
and sprinkled it with sacrificial salt; then, ascend- 
ing barefoot the platform in front of the brazen 
altar, he deposited the offering on the sound, firm 
logs which fed the sacred fire. The remainder of 
the animal, with the exception of the breast and 
shoulders, which belonged to the priest, was given 
back to the one who was offering the sacrifice, and 
furnished meat for a banquet which was expected 
by the friends who had come some distance and 
had to be fed. In some cases the feast lasted even 
longer than one day, and what was left over from 
it was given to the poor. 

The last sounds of the trumpet of the priest 
had died away when he descended to the woman's 
court in order to complete the ceremony. Ann, 
followed by Joachim, and bearing Mary in her 
arms, advanced, veiled, towards the minister of 
the most high God, and said with a tremulous 
voice: "I come to offer you the gift which God 
gave me." The priest accepted, in the name of 
God; then he extended his hands over the assem- 
bly and prayed: " Israel, may the Lord shed 
His light upon thee : may He prosper thee in all 
thy ways, and grant thee peace ! " A canticle of 



MARY RETIRES TO THE TEMPLE. 41 

thanksgiving accompanied with harps terminated 
the presentation of the Virgin. 

Such was the ceremony which took place tow- 
ards the end of November in the holy Temple of 
Sion. Those who usually go no further than the 
surface saw there only a child of marvellous 
beauty and great piety, but the angels of heaven 
beheld in that fair creature the Virgin of wdiom 
Isaias spoke : she was the celestial Eve who came 
to restore to fallen man the hope of a happy im- 
mortality. The angels knew it from the revelation 
of God ; they thronged about that earthly festival 
and, covering that child with their snowy wings, 
celebrated with gladness, in union with the whole 
court of heaven, the solemn entry of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary into the Temple of Jerusalem. 

The following verses may be aptly inserted here 
on the same subject: 

The light slants down the Temple-stair 
Upon an aged couple there. 
With quiet eyes and silvery hair. 

Between them, like a rosebud bright, 
And fresh and sweet, a child in white 
On either side a hand holds tight. 

She hath but three sweet summers told, 
That little girl with locks of gold, 
Between her parents grave and old; 



±2 MARY RETIRES TO THE TEMPLE. 

Yet round her hidden angels say: 

" Gloria tibi, Domine ! 

Our sovereign Queen is here to-day ! " 



And while she marvels at the hymn, 
Sweet Anne and gentle Joachim 
Conduct her up the staircase dim. 



The Golden Gate is open wide, 

And, in and out, a surging tide, 

The groups of strangers ceaseless glide. 

But no one heeds the aged pair, 
Or the infant with her sunny hair 
(God's favorite friends forgotten fare). 

And few behold the high priest stand 

In his glittering vestments, old and grand, 

With unrolled parchment in his hand, 

Save little Mary, brave and sweet. 
Who kneels before the rabbi's feet 
And lisps the words his lips repeat. 

She does not say: "O gracious King ! 

I'm but a little trembling thing, 

Too weak to quit my mother's wing ! " 

She does not plead: "O Lord divine ! 

Forbear, until I taste the wine 

Of future joys which may be mine ! " 

Nor still with cheeks and eyelids wet: 
" My harvest is not ripened yet, 
My zeal is mastered by regret ! " 



MART RETIRES TO THE TEMPLE. 43 

But, firm and free and strong of nerve 
(While radiant smiles the bright lips curve) : 
" Take all. God:' without reserve ! " 

And Anna feels her heart grow weak, 

And Joachim is pale of cheek, 

As the maiden, rising, turns to speak. 

She stands between them, like a lamb, 

She gives to each a tiny palm: 

And says " Farewell ! " in accents calm. 

And then it seems as dark as night. 
As the Levite takes the child in white 
And leads her slowly from their sight. 

And angels shall her playmates be, 
To guard the maiden on whose knee 
Shall bloom the Incarnate Deity. 

And after her (the prophets sing), — 

Shall eager virgins following 

Be brought with gladness to the King'! 

— Eleanor C. Donnelly. 



/H>an?'s Xife in tbe Uemple, 

Within the fortified enclosure of the Temple 
was an edifice set apart for virgins consecrated to 
God, who busied themselves in the service of the 
altar in every needful manner. Thither the child 
was conducted. 

Virginity was not held in the sacred light in 
which it is esteemed now; it was not considered 
a perpetual vow, and sooner or later those con- 
secrated to it were released in order to enter an 
honorable marriage. Still those who engaged in 
the solemn vow were not without honors and 
special prerogatives. God must have delighted in 
the prayers of these spotless children, who were 
guarded against the approach of all sin. The in- 
stitution of virgins about the Temple was a very 
ancient one: we may refer back to the time of 
Moses when his sister Mary with other maidens 
chanted the praises of God who had liberated their 
fathers from the bondage of Pharao. We find 

44 



MARY'S LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 45 

them mentioned in several passages of the Scrip- 
tures, so that we may conclude that the same in- 
stitution continued in the time of Mary. What- 
ever may be said to the contrary it appears pretty 
certain that there were virgins attached to the 
service of the second Temple at the time of Mary's 
presentation, and that she was enrolled among 
them. The institutions of the first Christians 
certify to the fact and several of the Fathers refer 
to it. The education which Mary received in the 
Temple was the best that the times and customs 
of the Hebrews supplied. It was chiefly con- 
fined to the domestic labors which in all well- 
regulated homes are done by the daughters of the 
family. Brought up in the strict observance of 
the Mosaic law they went early to the prayers pre- 
scribed. " Let Thy name, Lord, be praised and 
glorified in this world, which Thou hast created 
according to Thy pleasure; vouchsafe to establish 
Thy reign, let redemption flourish, and the Messias 
come quickly." And the people assembled for 
morning prayers would answer, " Amen." Hav- 
ing fulfilled this sacred duty of the morning, they 
engaged themselves in work: spinning, embroid- 
ering, and all the arts of working in wool, inter- 
weaving it with threads of gold. They were also 
taught to read the sacred Scriptures, for they were 



46 MART'S LIFE IN 1HE TEMPLE. 

to know all that pertained to their religion and 
to the practice of it in every ceremony in which 
they were concerned. 

St. Bonaventure gives us the following order of 
the day, as passed by this chosen daughter of 
heaven: "Mary spent in prayer and meditation 
the first hours of the day, from dawn till nine 
o'clock. From nine till three in the afternoon she 
was occupied with manual labor and in reading 
the Holy Scriptures. She then attended the eve- 
ning sacrifice offered daily in the Temple, after 
which she partook of food brought to her." Thus 
manual occupation alternated with spiritual 
duties. When we remember the large number of 
priests whose rich and varied vestments were to 
be made, repaired, and kept in good order; and 
then again the vast amount of draperies and other 
articles used at the sacrifices and other ceremonies, 
we may form some idea of the many duties devolv- 
ing upon these young virgins. It is an ancient 
tradition, handed down from mother to daughter, 
that the Blessed Virgin surpassed all her com- 
panions in the artistic work required of her. In 
proof of her excellence in useful work it is said 
that she afterwards wove the seamless garment 
worn by Jesus when a boy, and which was 
miraculously enlarged as He grew up to youth and 



MART'S LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 47 

manhood. Every principle of knowledge and 
piety, every lesson of sacred history which she re- 
ceived from her teachers, was so indelibly im- 
printed on her memory, forming in their entirety 
such a treasure of holy and spiritual knowledge 
as was never before granted to human mind, that 
she might even then be justly called the " Seat of 
Wisdom." Then we think, perhaps very justly, 
that this knowledge was increased by frequent 
revelations from God. 

But not only was this retirement in the Temple 
an opportunity for manual training: how much 
more rapid must have been her advancement in 
virtue and the perfection of her soul! St. Alphonsus 
tells us of Mary's youth: " As the breaking dawn 
of the morning becomes brighter, as the perfect 
day approaches, so did Mary grow more perfect in 
every accomplishment; no pen can describe the 
increasing brilliancy of her virtues, her humility, 
her silence, self-denial, and her gentleness." St. 
Jerome says: " Mary was the most prompt of her 
companions, the most faithful in the observance 
of the divine law T , the humblest and yet the most 
perfect in the practice of every virtue. She was 
never known to be angry, and her every word 
breathed gentleness, mildness, and heavenly love: 
so that, by every word and action the observer 



48 MARY'S LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 

was reminded of God." St. Ambrose writes of her 
youth in a similar strain: "Mary said but little, 
was always recollected, did not laugh boisterously, 
and was so retiring and reserved as never to thrust 
herself upon the notice of others. With con- 
stancy and perseverance she practised prayer, fast- 
ing, and the study of the Scriptures and other 
useful occupations." 

These are beautiful descriptions of the mind and 
heart of Mary: they come from saints of God who 
knew what one ought to be who was so very dear 
to the Almighty: let us insert here one more testi- 
mony of St. Ambrose, who says: " She was a virgin 
in heart and soul as well as in body, and never 
permitted the shadow of evil to cloud her purity 
for a moment. In disposition humble, in conver- 
sation guarded, careful in her thoughts, sparing 
of her words, attentive in her reading and instruc- 
tions. She censured none, loved all, respected old 
age, was a stranger to jealousy and envy, shunned 
vanity, and loved to commune with her Creator. 
She did not allow her eyes to wander, she never 
dropped a useless word, or did a dishonorable 
action. Her movements were free from vanity, 
her carriage modest, her voice soft and gentle. 
This excellent maiden discharged all her duties 
with such a perfect consciousness that she seemed 







THE STAR APPEARS TO THE MAGI. 



MABY'S LIFE IN I HE TEMPLE. 49 

by her beautiful example in every virtue to be 
rather the preceptress than the pupil." 

Thus we may well conceive that never since the 
beginning of creation was a more delightful ob- 
ject presented to the entranced gaze of the angels, 
nor even to the Deity itself than the immaculate 
and richly endowed heart of Mary with its thou- 
sand blooming flowers of fragrant virtue. 

We have dwelt so long on the child Mary be- 
cause her life is such a near approach to Our 
Lord's life; there is no question that when we de- 
scribe Mary's childhood we may consider that the 
youthful life of Jesus, to which this book is de- 
voted, is described at the same time, only, of 
course, that we must make His life divine, whilst 
that of Mary was a holy life produced by the grace 
of God. This contemplation of the life of Mary 
will also have another effect. It will teach parents 
and those who have the care of the education of 
girls in their hands what the life of girls ought to 
be in this world. Girls nowadays are well brought 
up too, and have magnificent opportunities of 
learning history, geography, reading, etc. This 
ought not to be all: the heart and the soul need to 
be educated too; they must also imbibe with the 
secular accomplishments those virtues which make 
good Catholic girls. They will have to learn hit 



50 MARY'S LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 

miiity, gentle docility, childlike obedience, and 
virginal purity of soul: all other accomplishments 
will not be real education if these are wanting. 
When the age of girlhood is passed they will be- 
come capricious, selfish, indolent, morose, unfaith- 
ful to all their duties unless there is the backing 
of real, solid virtue. Too late will parents and the 
young woman victim find out the falsity of her 
education. Hence; happy are the parents who have 
not permitted themselves to be misled by outward 
show, worldly vanity, but who have set before 
their eyes the story of the life and childhood of 



Such parents will find in their old age comfort 
in their children; they will have a good home with 
them, they will be cared for to the end of their 
days, they will feel that their age is not a burden 
to their children, and that the room which they 
occupy in their last days is not begrudged to 
them. This is the effect of the education of the 
heart ; who will say that mere secular education 
is preferable ? 

Whilst the Blessed Virgin was passing her days 
in the service of God in the Temple her parents 
retired to Nazareth, their town, and there lived 
in peace and quiet, remembering their sweet 
daughter Mary. From time to time Ann and 



MARY'S LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 51 

Joachim would go to Jerusalem for the celebra- 
tion of the festivals of the Jewish year, and on 
these occasions surely they also sought to look 
upon their good child and spend a few hours with 
her. But Mary's parents were getting old and 
their death was approaching. What is more 
natural than to suppose that Mary, making a sacri- 
fice of her inclination for the glory of God and to 
show her filial duty to her parents, went to their 
bedside and made herself useful ? What happiness 
did not this young girl bring to her parents ! 
Happy indeed were these parents to see their 
beloved child once more : what holy and religious 
sentiments did not Mary breathe into their ears ? 
They died in the arms of her who was one day 
to be the Mother of God. For us, too, the tender 
love of Mary for her departing parents is a source 
of much consolation. We know that this Blessed 
Virgin never abandons in the hour of death those 
w T ho have been true to her in life. The last 
moment of our life decides our eternity. In this 
last solemn moment the devil will not cease his 
endeavors to weaken our faith or extinguish our 
love for God. But Mary, who is so faithful to her 
duties, will not leave the bedside of those who 
have served her through life and who at that 
moment call on her for assistance. As she acted 



52 MART'S LIFE IN THE TEMPLE, 

so tenderly to her mother and father so she will 
also be to us our consolation and our hope. 
" Thus/ 5 as St. Augustine observes, " the repent- 
ant sinner ascends to his Saviour through her 
through whom the Saviour had descended to him." 
0, Blessed Virgin, sweet Mother of mercy, I 
conjure thee by thy tender love that thou wilt 
come to my souFs assistance when my last hour 
shall have struck; put into my heart the thought 
of saying for the last time with my last breath, 
" Jesus, Mary, Joseph." 



Qhe Carriage of tbe Blessed IDfrgfn, 

At the proper time, at what age we know not, it 
was necessary, according to Jewish law, to look for a 
spouse for Mary. In those Eastern climes a young 
girl arrives much earlier at a marriageable ageth n 
in our more vigorous northern country. The maidens 
who had dedicated themselves to the service of the 
Temple were not to remain single and be virgins 
all their life; it was customary to look for hus- 
bands for them. There was no courtship; there 
were laws by which they were guided and that 
directed them in making their choice. So the 
tribes kept to themselves as much as possible, as 
also did the families of the tribes. Mary shud- 
dered at the mere thought of going forth into the 
great world; she persistently refused to enter into 
any relations with the many suitors that presented 
themselves, saying that she had made a vow of 
virginity and was desirous that it should hold. 
However, her resolve to remain a virgin seemed 
opposed to the law of Moses: it was considered 

53 



54 MARRIAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

sinful to permit a family to become extinct. Mary 
was the last of her family and she was therefore 
not considered at liberty to follow her own in- 
clination ; her prayer was refused, and she was 
compelled to submit to the law. When the young 
men of the family of David, who had been invited 
to choose a wife, had assembled, the high priest 
directed them to do as Moses had once been in- 
spired to do on another occasion. He requested 
each of the young men to hand him a dry rod. 
These the priest laid together on the altar before 
the Holy of holies, and then besought the Lord 
that He would cause the rod belonging to the 
young man intended as Mary's future husband to 
become green and to sprout and put forth leaves. 
When the. priest returned on the following clay 
to examine the twigs he found them dead and 
dry. The priests inquired whether, of the few 
descendants of the royal family, any had failed to 
take part in the ceremony, and it was found that 
a poor carpenter, named Joseph, had absented 
himself. This man had from early boyhood led 
a pure and holy life in the fear and wisdom of 
God, and like the Blessed Virgin had resolved to 
remain unmarried. This good man was at once 
ordered to the Temple, and, like the others, to 
bring with him a twig to be laid upon the altar. In 



MARRIAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 55 

a short time the rod of this man became green, 
sprouted and bore a beautiful lily. All saw the 
miracle, and all acknowledged that he was the 
man chosen by God to be the bridegroom for the 
maiden of Nazareth. When the guardians an- 
nounced to Mary the result of the scrutiny, she 
hesitated not a moment to devote herself to an 
obscure life, menial occupations, and arduous cares 
with the humble artisan Joseph. Probably she 
had been admonished from on high that this just 
man would be to her a protector, a father, and the 
guardian of her chastity. Our Lord had heard 
her prayer. God gave not to His chosen daughter 
a man whose merit consisted in the possession of 
great lands, vineyards, or wealth: He had given 
her a just man, the most perfect of His works; be- 
fore Him there is no distinction between poor and 
rich. "Man judges by appearances, but Jehovah 
looks at the heart," says the Scripture. Joseph 
possessed treasures of grace and of sanctity 
which the angels themselves might envy; his 
virtues had nacle him first among his people, and 
his name stood far higher in the book of life than 
that of the imperial Caesar. The Virgin was not 
confided to the most powerful, but to the most 
worthy: thus the ark, which the princes and cap- 
tains of Israel dared not touch for fear of beino- 



56 MARRIAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

stricken with death, drew down the blessing of 
Heaven on the house of a simple Levite wherein it 
was sheltered. 

We are not inclined to believe that the marriage 
of the Blessed Virgin was a great affair, for poor 
people have to be content with a very modest cere- 
mony. But it may be interesting to take a glance 
at a Jewish marriage according to the customs of 
that people, of which, no doubt, they all wished 
to avail themselves. 

Early in the morning a train of richly dressed 
women approach the home of the bride, and slaves 
carry torches as far as the house. Those who are 
to take part in the ceremony are allowed to enter 
to congratulate the bride on the blessing received 
from God in the fact that a husband and protector 
lias been given her. Then begins the work of 
adorning the bride; gold and pearls are lavished 
upon her, bracelets and earrings, according to 
Eastern custom, forming a necessary part of the 
adornment: a pointed golden crown is set on her 
brow; a bridal veil covers her from head to foot, 
like a cloak. At the door of the house a canopy of 
precious stuffs awaits her, and under it she and her 
attendants have to walk. When the procession 
begins to move, the nuptial train is lengthened out 
by people who carry palm branches, waving them 



MARBIAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 57 

as if in triumph and to show the joy of all. The 
procession moves on to the sound of cymbals, 
harps, and flutes. Then comes the bridegroom, 
his brow adorned with a peculiar crown of crystal. 
He is surrounded by a number of friends singing 
portions of the Canticle of Solomon. Young 
people who bring up the rear perform a religious 
dance and burst into prolonged cries of joy, as 
is still done at the present day by the Arabs. The 
whole procession, as it passes along, scatters small 
coin among the poor that line the roadside. Ar- 
rived at the future dwelling of the couple, the 
friends of the bride and groom sing in chorus to 
welcome them. Then the groom takes his station 
under the canopy, at the side of his bride, and 
places the wedding ring on her finger. . One of the 
relatives then pours out a goblet of wine, which 
the young couple taste first, and then the groom 
pours the rest on the ground as a token of liber- 
ality, whilst those who are provided with it cast 
handfuls of wheat about as a sign of abundance. 
The king of the feast is then chosen; his duty 
is to see that the guests do not infringe the rules 
of religion or propriety. All then enter the ban- 
quet hall, where the feast lasts a long time; sev- 
eral days, in fact, the guests remain partaking of 
the hospitality of the house where the marriage 



58 MARRIAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

has taken place. After the ceremony the bride 
and groom are considered lawfully married, and 
they can no longer separate except by a decree of 
the holy council. 

Humble was perhaps the marriage of the Blessed 
Virgin, and with as little display as possible, be- 
cause it was more becoming to the condition of 
poverty in which both Mary and Joseph found 
themselves. 

After the festive days of the wedding were over, 
Mary with deep regret bade farewell to the Tem- 
ple, whose sacred walls had so long sheltered her. 
She took leave of her companions, who were prac- 
tising the virtue of chastity ; and of her beloved 
and venerable preceptress, the prophetess Anna; 
of the pious and clear priests whose teachings of 
the law had been so useful to her. Fortified by 
the blessings of their friends, and the good wishes 
of all, the holy couple went to Nazareth to live in 
a poor home which was their own. Here Mary 
lived in the practice of the purest chastity with 
her spouse St. Joseph, who was himself strength- 
ened by almighty God^s grace to remain as he al- 
ways had been, a virginal man. Here they loved 
each other, with God ever present to their minds ; 
they prayed together, and St. Joseph labored for 
his wife. Each succeeding day St. Joseph became 



MARRIAGE OF THE BLESSED V1HG1K. 59 

mure and more convinced that God had entrusted 
to his care a priceless jewel. He could say of her, 
according to Solomon: " I preferred her before 
kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches as 
nothing in comparison of her: gold in comparison 
of her is as a little sand, and silver in respect to 
her shall be counted as clay. I loved her above 
health and beauty, and chose to have her instead 
of light, for her light cannot be put out." 



Ubc annunciation* 



We see that Mary's preparation for the great 
mystery of the incarnation was now complete. 
She shone in transcendent beauty like a being 
of paradise rather than a creature of this world. 
She was filled with supernatural virtues, she was 
the fitting shrine to which God could descend. 
Mary, marvellous, mystical creature whom God 
has now so completely formed to be the holy tem- 
ple of His sacred presence ! What was it in Mary 
that so attracted God's complacency ? What drew 
the Word from the bosom of the Father into her 
bosom ? God saw in Mary His own great power 
and wisdom: it was all His work: He fell in love 
with His own wisdom when He loved her, Her 
natural life was His own idea; her beauty an 
expression of His own wisdom; her birth an act 
of His own almighty will. There was nothing in 
Mary that she had not received from God. 

The place where the Son of God was to assume 
His created human nature was the inner room of 

60 



THE ANNUNCIA1I0N. 61 

the holy house of Nazareth, where Mary and 
Joseph dwelt together. 

From the Gospel narrative it would appear that 
Mary had received no warning of w T hat was about 
to happen, still less of the time when the mystery 
was to be accomplished. Mary was spending the 
time in closest union with God; her spirit was 
doubtless then raised in ecstasy to the raptures of 
contemplation. It was this prayer perhaps that 
hastened the time of the glorious mystery of the 
incarnation. It was perhaps her intense aspira- 
tion, into which she threw her whole soul, that 
drew^ the everlasting Word from the bosom of the 
Father. 

Before the Son of God came Himself He sent 
His messenger before Him in the person of the 
angel Gabriel, the angel of the incarnation. 
Gabriel had been, as we read, the official herald of 
the decrees of God regarding the incarnation. 
The works of Daniel's prophecy had now run out, 
and the messenger was at hand to ask in the name 
of God Mary's consent, and for a moment the ac- 
complishment hung on Mary's word. The visit is 
thus described by St. Luke the Evangelist: " In the 
sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God 
into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin 
espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of 



62 THE ANNUNCIATION, 

the house of David, and the Virgin's name was 
Mary. And the angel being come in said unto 
her: Hail full of grace; the Lord is with thee; 
blessed art thou amongst women. Who having 
heard was troubled at his saying, and thought 
with herself what manner of salutation this should 
be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, 
for thou hast found grace with God: behold thou 
shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth 
a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He 
shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the 
Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto Him 
the throne of David, His father, and He shall 
reign in the house of Jacob forever : and of His 
kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said 
to the angel: How shall this be done, because I 
know not man ? And the angel answering said to 
her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and 
the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. 
And therefore also the Holy which shall be born 
of thee shall be called the Son of God. And be- 
hold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also 'hath con- 
ceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth 
month with her that is called barren: because 
no word shall be impossible with God." 

What a salutation is this ! There was joy in 
the words of the angel; he brings joyful news 



THE ANNUNCIATION. 63 

from the throne of God. 0, most holy Virgin, I 
salute thee with all my heart, he says, for the Lord 
God has thought of thee, has had thee in His 
mind, and I am come to speak to thee of it. 

Thou art full of grace : the friend of God full 
of charity, faith, and hope; full of the perfect 
practice of all virtues: humility, obedience, pa- 
tience; thou art full of wisdom, knowledge, piety, 
and the fear of the Lord and all the virtues conse- 
quent on the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Her 
memory is full of holy thoughts, her intelligence 
full of God's mercy, her will is entirely conform- 
able to the will of God that the world might be 
redeemed and that soon the Messias should come. 
Mary is full of grace in her actions for the glory 
of God; her life was full of good works, all di- 
rected by the proper intention for the love of God. 
Every clay Mary was still receiving: the measure 
was being filled up, heaped up and pressed down. 

And why was this greatness of the mercy of God 
poured out on her — the Lord is with thee. He is 
thy friend, Mary, Mother of God, He is with 
thee in every faculty of thy soul, He is with thee 
in His holy and watchful providence, He is with 
thee forever. 0, glorious Virgin, how great art 
thou when the Lord is with thee ! when He is 
thy friend, thy spouse, thy Father: thou art by 



64 THE ANNUNCIATION. 

this relation all powerful with the Lord. Mary 
is the mistress of the treasures of the graces of 
almighty God which we need so much; no greater 
gift could this woman full of grace give us than 
to send us a share of her fulness of grace. We 
need that mysterious strength from above, by 
which our understanding is enlightened, our hearts 
inflamed with love for the good and the spiritual, 
which awakens in us the desire of Christian vir- 
tue, making its practice easy. Thus it is that the 
fulness of grace of Mary has been a great benefit 
to the human race; the Lord is with Mary, with 
Him she comes to us blessing us, sympathizing 
with us, praying for us. Mary has become our 
refuge in this valley of tears. clement, lov- 
ing, sweet Virgin Mary ! Pray for us that we 
may be worthy of the promises of Christ. 

Hence she is the most blessed among women; 
never was there such a woman on earth, never did 
God create circumstances in which such a woman 
was possible. All saintly women of the Old and 
the New Testament dwindle into insignificance in 
comparison with this woman, blessed among 
women. The possession of God made her great, 
the fulness of grace made her great, and no other 
woman was blessed to such an extent. Blessed 
art thou anions: women, and blessed is the fruit of 





THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 



THE ANNUNCIATION. 65 

thy womb, Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of the 
Most High. " I am appointed King over Sion. 
The Lord hath said to Me: Thou art My Son, 
this day have I begotten Thee: ask of Me and I 
will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance 
and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy posses- 
sion." 

In woman man was one time accursed, but by 
Mary has blessing come not only to women but 
to all the human race. Eve listened to the serpent 
and ruined the happiness of the whole human 
race forever. Mary crushed the head of the 
serpent. No wonder then that the salutation of 
the angel astonished Mary, for the promises of 
the angel opened up such a sublime future that 
the holy Virgin in her humility could not com- 
prehend it. 

No wonder that Mary was astonished and dis- 
turbed at such words coming from a visitor whom 
she did not know. She showed by her disturbance her 
great humility, for she was a sensible woman, and 
knew that she could not be specially distinguished 
among women. She knew that she was unknown 
and married to a poor carpenter ; why should she 
become so famous throughout the world that all 
women should call her blessed ? When the angel 
saw Mary's concern at his presence he sweetly 



66 THE ANNUNCIATION. 

and gently soothed her by his speech : Fear not, 
Mary; for you have found grace before God. Be 
not afraid, there is no harm coming to you: no 
misfortune or violence is coming over you: fear 
not, Mary, you will not commit sin, the devil will 
have no power over you. God is your protector, 
you have found grace with God; His strong arm 
is raised in your defence. 

When the angel had allayed the fears of the 
Virgin he proceeded to lay before her the designs 
God had for her, that the Messias was to be born, 
that she was to be the instrument of God's provi- 
dence, to introduce His Son into the world ; she 
was to be His Mother, to conceive Him, bear 
Him in her bosom for nine months, and that then 
He should be born. " Behold, thou shalt con- 
ceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a Son 
and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be 
great and shall be called the Son of the Most 
High: and the Lord God shall give Him the 
throne of His father David, and He shall reign 
in the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom 
there shall be no end." Here, then, is what God 
has designed in the life of Mary: she is a priv- 
ileged creature to be the Mother of the Son of the 
Most High. She shall be great. Who is greater 
than the Son of God ? His reign will have no 



THE ANNUNCIATION. 67 

end: all over the world His power will extend; 
as long as the world will last Jesus will be adored. 

This is the Son of whom Isaias speaks in the 
Old Testament when he says : " A Child is born 
to us, and a Son is given to us : and the govern- 
ment is upon His shoulder, and His name shall 
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, the Mighty, 
the Father of the world to come, the Prince of 
peace. He shall sit upon the throne of David, and 
upon His kingdom." 

" How shall this be done ? " inquired Mary, 
" because T know not man." The prudent 
virgin did not ask out of want of faith nor 
from mistrust in God's goodness, but rather out 
of solicitude for her life's resolve to remain 
chaste. From this fact she is called most prudent 
Virgin, because she wished to be more fully in- 
structed so as to guard her innocence. She be- 
came an example to us all in this, showing us that 
we should prudently, carefully avoid every danger 
to our purity, be circumspect, and not permit our- 
selves to be led astray by the devil, even though he 
appear in the garb of an angel of light. Then 
the angel, to show her that she would not lose her 
virginity in becoming the Mother of the Son of 
God, tells her that God would effect all by the 
power of the holiest, purest Spirit. He answered: 



68 THE ANNUNCIATION. 

u The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the 
power of the Most High shall overshadow thee : 
and therefore also the Holy which shall be born 
of thee shall be called the Son of God/' Thou 
shalt always be a pure virgin, God wills it that 
thy purity shall always be guarded ; thou shalt be 
the purest of virgins. 

And to show Mary that God's power is very 
great and that strange things were happening 
just then in preparation for the coming of the 
Messias, the angel refers to a secret which nobody 
knew among the relatives — that Elizabeth, an old 
woman, had conceived a son in her old age, for 
nothing is impossible to God. The whole plan 
of almighty God had now been laid before the 
Virgin, that she might act upon it and decide 
what she would do. The messenger was waiting 
there to carry the answer back to the throne 
of God. Mary, with the grace of God, had 
made tip her mind, and gave her consent. It 
meant much for her to do this, for there were dis- 
grace, poverty, and desertion staring her in the 
face. She could foresee what happened after- 
wards, the doubts of St. Joseph in regard to his 
wife's faithfulness. But humbly bowing to the 
will of God, Mary answered: " Behold the hand- 
maid of the Lord, be it done to me according to 



THE ANNUNCIATION. 69 

thy word/ 5 As if to say, What am I, but a poor 
miserable creature, worth nothing, incapable of 
doing anything ? let Him take His servant and 
make use of her according to His designs; a poor 
handmaid, the lowliest of His earthly creatures. 
I shall be submissive, I will do whatever is re- 
quired of me. This was the great act of obedience 
in the life of Mary. Often she had to practise 
humility and obedience, but on this occasion the 
depths of the virtue, or rather the sublimity of 
it, were reached. " Be it done to me according 
to thy word." And the angel departed from her. 
With jay this messenger of God ascended to 
heaven to report to the choirs of God's angels the 
fulfilment of his mission ; and then all the angels 
rejoiced for the mercy of God which was to be 
shown to man. 

The salutation of the angel, my dear children, 
is often repeated: not a day of our life passes but 
we repeat in prayer the words of the Hail Mary. 
Many times we multiply the recital of it when 
we say the beads; we never go to bed at night 
or rise in the morning that we do not say it gladly; 
and we repeat it daily at every action of our life. 
So we often remind the Blessed Virgin that we 
are thinking of her; that we salute her with the 
salutation of the angel, to recall that first saluta- 



70 THE ANNUNCIATION. 

tion; that we rejoice over it no less than the 
angels do in heaven; that we love that Virgin and 
hail her also as blessed among all women. 



Uhe Birtb of St, 5obn fforetoRv 



We have just heard that the angel referred to 
the fact that St. Elizabeth, a cousin of the Blessed 
Virgin, had by the power of God, by a special 
providence, conceived and was soon to give birth 
to a real prodigy. The story is wonderful, and 
we shall present it just as it appears in the New 
Testament, in the Gospel of St. Luke : " There 
was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a 
certain priest named Zachary, of the course of 
Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, 
and her name Elizabeth. And they were both 
just before God, walking in all the commandments 
and justifications of the Lord without blame, and 
they had no son, for that Elizabeth was barren, 
and they both were well advanced in years. And 
it came to pass, when he executed the priestly 
function in the order of his course before God, 
according to the custom of his priestly office, it 
was his lot to offer incense, going into the Temple 
of the Lord. And all the multitude of the people 

71 



72 THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN FORETOLD. 

was praying without at the hour of incense. And 
there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, stand- 
ing on the right side of the altar of incense. And 
Zachary, seeing him, was troubled, and fear fell 
upon him. But the angel said to him: Fear not, 
Zachary, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife 
Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt 
call his name John. And thou shalt have joy 
and gladness, and many shall rejoice in his nativ- 
ity. For he shall be great before the Lord, and 
shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he shall 
be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his 
mother's womb. And he shall convert many of 
the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And 
he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of 
Elias, that he may turn the hearts of the fathers 
unto the children, and the incredulous to the wis- 
dom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect 
people. And Zachary said to the angel : Whereby 
shall I know this ? for I am an old man and my 
wife is advanced in years. And the angel answer- 
ing said to him : I am Gabriel, who stand before 
God, and am sent to speak to thee and to bring 
thee these good tidings. And behold, thou shalt 
be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak until the 
day wherein these things shall come to pass, be- 
cause thou hast not believed my words, which shall 



THE BIRTH OF ST JOHN FORETOLD. 1Z 

be fulfilled in their time. And the people was 
waiting for Zachary, and they wondered that he 
tarried so long in the Temple. And when he 
came out, he could not speak to them, and they 
understood that he had seen a vision in the Tem- 
ple. And he made signs to them, and remained 
dumb. And it came to pass, after the days of his 
office were accomplished, he departed to his own 
house. And after those days Elizabeth his wife 
conceived, and hid herself five months, saying: 
Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days 
wherein He hath had regard to take away my re- 
proach among men/' 

The offices of the several priests, who were ap- 
pointed to the service of the Temple on the succes- 
sive days during which their class was in attend- 
ance, were arranged by lot. Probably the most 
solemn of all, and never intermitted, were those 
which had direct relation to the daily sacrifice of 
the lamb, morning and evening, and of offering in- 
cense on the golden altar in the holy place. Here, 
too, stood the golden candlestick of seven branches, 
whose lamps were continually burning before the 
veil which shrouded the Holy of holies from the 
gaze of men, and hero were the loaves of proposi- 
tion renewed once a week by the priests whose 
office it was to attend to them. The holy place 



74 THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN FORETOLD, 

was hidden by a curtain from the rest of the Tem- 
ple, and thus when the priest went in to perform 
his solemn office, the devout worshippers could 
only follow him with their hearts and pray ear- 
nestly for the continuance of the blessings with 
which God was ever defending and enlightening 
His people. Into the Holy of holies itself, which 
was separated from the holy place by a veil, no 
one ever entered except the high priest once a 
year, on the great Day of Atonement. The sacred 
text tells us that on the occasion w T hen Zachary 
entered, the whole multitude was praying without 
at the time of the incense. The priest was to enter 
the Holy of holies with a vessel filled with incense 
and scatter the incense on the sacred fire of the 
altar. After the offering of the incense, the priest 
was to return to the sight of the people and dis- 
miss them with the solemn blessing, saying : " The 
Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord show His 
face to thee and have mercy on thee; the Lord 
turn His countenance to thee and give thee peace/' 
It was at just such a ceremony that the miraculous 
appearance of the angel took place, which is re- 
lated by St. Luke. The appearance, too, of the 
angel in the Temple at this solemn moment and 
in the Holy of holies conveyed a meaning intended 
not only for Zachary, but for all present. In fact 



THE BIETH OF ST. JOHN FORETOLD. 75 

the Messias was soon to come ; this appearance 
of the angel was a necessary prelude to its realiza- 
tion, and the people were to be informed that the 
kingdom of God was at hand. This child that is 
to be born will bring joy to the heavenly hosts, 
to the souls of the patriarchs and other saints of 
the Old Testament, for he is as the dawn of the 
glorious day of the redemption of mankind for 
which they have so eagerly waited. The reason 
for this joy is that the child " shall be great be- 
fore the Lord " with a greatness which God alone 
can give : great in sanctity, great in the office he 
will fill in the kingdom of the Messias to which he 
will belong. To prepare him for his mission he 
was to be consecrated by the vow of the Nazarenes, 
a solemn consecration which was frequently under- 
taken for a time or for life, as in the case of St. 
John. " He shall drink no wine nor strong drink/' 
This consecration of the child was to be the prepa- 
ration for the wonderful graces bestowed on his 
soul, for " he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost 
even from his mother's womb/' This, my dear 
children, was a special privilege of the precursor, 
his sanctiflcation before his birth. This sanctifica- 
tion by the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb 
is not promised as a thing which once given re- 
mains, but it means that it shall increase with the 



76 THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN FORETOLD. 

years of his life. " And he shall convert many of 
the children of Israel to the Lord their God." The 
office of the Baptist was to prepare the people for 
the coming of the Messias, to fit them to receive 
His spiritual gifts by their conversion from sin. 
He was also to point Him out to them that they 
might listen to Him more readily: he was to in- 
troduce Him to them that they might know Him. 
Thus the greatness of St. John was predicted, and 
the grace of God was given to him to go forth on 
his mission. 

Zachary was so long within the enclosure of 
the Holy of holies that it was evident some- 
thing extraordinary had happened to him, for 
the people were waiting to be dismissed with the 
invocation of the blessing. They wondered that 
he tarried so long. When he came out he could 
not speak to them, and they understood that he 
had seen a vision in the Temple. St. Elizabeth 
retired from public view and hid herself; thus the 
weeks and months which were to pass before the 
birth of the child were to become a time of prayer, 
penance, and thanksgiving to God for His favors, 
in which she joined her husband as penance for his 
incredulity. 



TEbe Hesitation* 

When Mary had been informed by the angel of 
the miraculous pregnancy of St. Elizabeth she re- 
solved to go and offer her tender congratulations 
to her venerable relative. It was not because she 
doubted the words of the angel, or to assure her- 
self by ocular demonstration, that she resolved on 
this visit, for she knew that nothing is impossible 
to God and that His words are the truth. So she 
set out with haste, so as to be of service as early as 
possible ; with her wonted kindness and benevo- 
lence she longed to impart a portion of that bless- 
ing which now sprang from her presence. 

Whither thus, in holy rapture, 

Royal maiden, art thou bent? 
Why so fleetly art thou speeding 

Up the mountain's rough ascent? 

Filled with the eternal Godhead! 

Glowing with the Spirit's flame! 
Love it is that bears thee onward 

And supports thy tender frame. 

77 



78 THE VISITATION. 

Blessed Mother! joyful meeting! 

Thou in her, the hand of God, 
She in Thee, with lips inspired, 

Owns the Mother of her Lord. 

Honor, glory, virtue, merit, 

Be to Thee, O Virgin's Son! 
With the Father and the Spirit 

While eternal ages run. 

Alone she went into the mountains of Judea, a 
five days' journey. Probably on her journey Mary 
found companions among those who constantly 
travelled to the holy city and thus a great portion 
of the road was made under their protection. Ar- 
rived at length at the sacerdotal town, Mary went 
straight to the house of Elizabeth. On seeing her 
approach, the Virgin bowed down and laying her 
hands on her heart, as was then the customary mode 
of salutation, exclaimed, " Peace be with you ! " 
Elizabeth drew back; joy and friendly recognition 
were in her face, but profound respect marked her 
external greeting. Suddenly the prophetic spirit de- 
scended upon her and she cried out, " Blessed art 
thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy 
womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother 
of my Lord should come to me ? For behold as 
soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my 
ears the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And 



THE VISITATION. 79 

blessed art thou that hast believed, because those 
things shall be accomplished that were spoken to 
thee by the Lord." Then Mary answered with the 
beautiful canticle: " My soul doth magnify the 
Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Sa- 
viour. Because He hath regarded the humility of 
His handmaid : for behold from henceforth all 
generations shall call me blessed. Because He that 
is mighty hath done great things to me : and holy 
is His name. And His mercy is from generation 
to generations, to them that fear Him. He hath 
showed might in His arm : He hath scattered the 
proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put 
down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted 
the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good 
things and the rich He hath sent empty away. He 
hath received Israel His servant, being mindful 
of His mercy. As He spoke to our fathers, to 
Abraham and to his seed forever." " In this cele- 
brated interview," says St. Ambrose, " Mary and 
Elizabeth both prophesied by the Holy Ghost, for 
both were filled with the Holy Spirit by the merit 
of their children." 

Mary remained three months with her cousin St. 
Elizabeth. How pure, how sublime must have 
been the discourse of these two holy women: one 
about to become the Mother of God ; the other 



80 THE VISITATION. 

the mother of the precursor of the Son of God: 
both profoundly loving God, and both well pleas- 
ing to almighty God. The mild and amiable Vir- 
gin lavished on Elizabeth all her kindest atten- 
tions : they were just such as Mary would have 
bestowed on her own mother, and we may suppose 
that she was often reminded of her own parents 
by the sight of that loving and devoted pair, who 
loved her so tenderly and with a parental care, and 
treated her with profound respect. It is easy to 
imagine that many were the blessings which de- 
scended on the house of Zachary through the visit 
of the Blessed A 7 irgin. We recall the blessings 
which Obededom received from the presence of the 
ark of the covenant in his house, even so as to 
excite the envy of the holy king David ; what 
blessings, then, must not Zachary have received 
from the three months' sojourn of Mary, who is 
the ark of the new covenant ? 

On Mary's return to Nazareth she cheerfully re- 
sumed her former mode of life. She became again 
the active and diligent housewife, who finds time 
for work, for prayer, and for pious reading: whose 
whole conversation was in heaven, and who seemed 
to have applied to herself those beautiful words of 
the Psalmist: "All the glory of the king's daugh- 
ter is within." 




JOSEPH IS WARNED BY THE ANGEL. 



THE VISITATION. 81 

Nearer and nearer approached the time for our 
dear Saviour's coming, and St. Joseph, the spouse 
of the Virgin, became every day more sad and 
downcast; he was as yet ignorant of the work of 
God in her, and he was very much disturbed. 
" She was found with child," says the Gospel. 
What was he to do in his perplexity ? Accord- 
ing to the law of Moses adultery was punishable 
by death. A hasty, passionate husband would 
not have failed to drag his wife before the priests 
of the Lord, that sentence should be passed upon 
her. But Joseph would not take such a step : 
he knew too well that Mary was innocent, that 
she was purity itself : and being a just man, 
he was unwilling to expose her and was about to 
put her away secretly. Mary could not but notice 
the deep concern that Joseph manifested; it must 
have caused her great grief to conceal from him 
the glorious embassy of the angel. But how was 
she to speak to Joseph about it ? She hoped in 
God, she trusted that in due time He would reveal 
to Joseph what great things He was doing through 
Mary. " The daughter of David," says the great 
Bishop of Meaux, " at the risk of seeing herself 
not only suspected and abandoned, but also lost 
and dishonored, left all to God and remained in 
peace." God did send an angel to Joseph, who 



82 TEE VISITATION. 

said, " Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife : 
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy 
Ghost." Joseph's doubts disappeared at once ; his 
great faith needed no other proof ; his sorrow 
changed to joy. He made amends for having 
doubted his spouse, and Mary thanked God for His 
protection. The good St. Joseph redoubled his 
efforts towards his virginal spouse ; it was now 
he showed the full extent of his vocation ; from 
this time he was entirely admitted into the secrets 
of the mystery of the incarnation, for when he 
learned it from the angel he was ready to give up 
all selfish feelings. He became at once the foster- 
father of Our Lord : he was the representative of 
God the Father, who in communicating to him the 
honor of paternity to the incarnate Word willed 
that he should call Him by the name of son, a name 
which He alone gives in heaven to the uncreaie 
Word. Thus God who formerly had said He would 
give His glory to no one, now, as an exceptional 
favor, communicates in a manner to a mortal that 
paternity which is the glory of the eternal Father. 
What is still more, God, according to St. Bernard, 
in giving to Joseph the name of father, gave him 
also a father's heart, that is, the authority, the 
solicitude, and the love of a father. 

Joseph was also the representative of the Holy 



THE VISITATION. 83 

Ghost, who confided to him the Virgin Mary, 
placing His spouse under Joseph's protection and 
direction. The Father and the Holy Ghost intrust 
to him what is most dear to them. To what sub- 
limity of virtue must he have attained to acquit 
himself worthily of such a charge ! And Mary on 
her part gave Joseph her heart and love and faith- 
ful attachment. Never did a wife love her hus- 
band so tenderly, so ardently, nor revere him more 
profoundly. Mary and Joseph were but one heart 
and soul : they were of the same mind, same affec- 
tion, and each of them was the other's second self. 
The heart of Mary with that of Joseph and the 
heart of Joseph with that of Mary — who ever 
could imagine a union so intimate, and graces so 
great ! From that time forward St. Joseph de- 
serves the many titles of respect which the piety 
of the people gives him. 



Ubc JSBirtb of St. 3obn, 

Tx course of time Elizabeth gave birth to the 
child; the wonders of God were not yet completed 
in the case of this great favorite of God. Wonder- 
ful events happened at the birth of this child which 
we shall relate. In this chapter, my dear children, 
we shall treat also of the youth and childhood of 
the precursor of Christ ; it stands so well beside 
the childhood of Jesus. St. John was therefore 
also the precursor of Our Lord in the beauty of his 
life. 

On the eighth day the child was to be circum- 
cised and a name was to be given to him. The 
neighbors and relations, as was customary, gath- 
ered about to proclaim the mercy of God and 
to make arrangements for the ceremony. They 
began to speculate as to the probable name of this 
child : one suggested a name because the grand- 
father had borne it ; a second proposed another 
name because a rich and influential uncle was so 
called; some thought he should be named after 

84 



THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN. 85 

his father, Zachary ; but Elizabeth, divinely in- 
spired, insisted that he should be called John. 
Zachary had not spoken since the days of the ap- 
pearance of the angel in the Temple, and could 
not speak. So he made signs for a writing-tablet, 
and clearly wrote on it, " John is his name." At 
that moment his speech returned to him ; it was 
like a great effort. With a cry of exultation he felt 
his tongue loosed and he spoke aloud in thanks- 
giving to the Lord. The news of these wonderful 
manifestations spread over all that country : peo- 
ple remembered what had happened in the Temple 
and they said among themselves, " What think you 
shall this boy be one day ? the hand of the Lord is 
evidently upon him." But Zachary was filled with 
the Spirit of God : his mind saw into the future, 
he saw the Messias and the salvation which was 
to come from Him, and broke out into these words 
of the " Benedictus " : 

" Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because 
He hath looked clown upon His people and hath 
wrought their redemption. 

" He hath raised up in the house of David His 
son, an invincible power to be our salvation. 

" According to that which He hath promised us 
by the mouth of the holy prophets, from the be- 
ginning of time. 



86 THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN. 

" A salvation whereby He will preserve us, for 
the accomplishment of His loving-kindness unto 
our fathers, 

" And as a remembrance of His holy covenant 
the oath which He swore to Abraham, our father. 

" So that delivered from the hand of our ene- 
mies and freed from fear we may worship Him. 

"In righteousness and holiness in His sight even 
all the days of our life. 

"And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of 
the Most High. 

" Thou shalt walk before the Lord to prepare 
His way. 

" To declare unto His people salvation in the 
pardon of their sins. 

" Pardon through the bowels of the mercy of 
Our Lord. 

"Whereby a star, rising to the heights of heaven, 
hath visited us. 

" Illumining them that sit in the shadow and 
darkness of death/' 

St. John grew up under the tender care of his 
mother to a certain age ; while still very young 
his heart inclined to solitude and to prayer. The 
Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he did not 
relish the things of this world nor even the inno- 
cent play of children. He found the retreat which 



THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN. Si 

he so much coveted in the desert near-by; thither 
he betook himself at an early age. In that hilly, 
barren country he must have found a convenient 
cave for protection at night, and to a certain ex- 
tent from the inclemency of the winter ; here he 
lived alone, praying and fasting. He was prepar- 
ing himself for the mission which God intended 
for him and which he had made up his mind to 
fulfil to the best of his ability. St. Luke says of 
him, " The child grew and was strengthened in 
spirit : and was in the deserts until the day of 
his manifestation to Israel.'' 

St. John first of all practised a most penitential 
life. St. Matthew describes him as wearing a gar- 
ment made of camers-hair, a leather girdle about 
his loins, and his food of locusts and wild honey, 
and whatever food that was clean, according to the 
Jewish law ; his bed was the hard ground : and 
with extraordinary hardihood he suffered the cold 
and the heat of that rugged climate. This he un- 
derwent willingly, not for any sins, for he was 
sanctified before he was born, but in order to con- 
quer the flesh and preserve himself from every 
stain of sin. Hence Our Lord praised St. John, 
saying : " What went you out into the desert to 
see ? a reed shaken with the wind ? But what 
went you out to see ? a man clothed in soft gar- 



88 THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHK 

ments ? Behold they that are clothed in soft gar- 
ments are in the houses of kings. But what went 
you out to see ? a prophet ? Yea, I tell you, and 
more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is 
written : Behold I send My angel before Thy face 
who shall prepare Thy way before Thee." 

St. John was constantly engaged in contempla- 
tion and prayer : he was not roving about like a 
wild man of the solitudes, but he was led by the 
Spirit into solitude there to speak to his heart. 
And certainly God favored His angel with many 
consolations, and made amends to him for all that 
he had given up: riches, honors, dignities, the de- 
lights of the paternal roof. He had chosen the bet- 
ter part and persevered in it. He was also of a 
strong mind. No doubt almighty God frequently 
allowed temptations to come to him : the devil 
pictured to him the loss of his parents, the com- 
fort of a home, but he remained where he was, 
knowing that this was the will of God. He culti- 
vated purity of soul and body, as we are told that 
he " grew and was strengthened in spirit." We 
read in the Psalms : " Blessed is the man whose 
help is from Thee ; in his heart he hath disposed 
to ascend by steps ; " that he went " from virtue 
to virtue : the God of gods shall be seen in 
Sion." He grew " as a shining light that goeth 



THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN. 89 

forwards and increaseth even to perfect day." No 
wonder then that John the Baptist became so great 
in the service of God ! 

My dear children, if yon, too, would become 
good and persevering in the work of your salva- 
tion and that of others, you must begin early, in 
fact endeavor to preserve your baptismal innocence 
through life, so that you may always be an object 
of the love of God. 



TEbe 1Rati\nt£ of ©ut %or&, 

Nazareth, which was to be the blessed abode of 
Jesus for many years, was not to be His birthplace. 
A little while before His birth an edict of Caesar 
Augustus was sent out to all the Jews living in 
Palestine that they must be enrolled in order to 
make a census, and that they must go to the city 
to which they belonged. The whole Eoman Em- 
pire was to be counted, so that it might be seen 
at a glance how many soldiers were under arms, 
how many citizens employed in peaceful pursuits, 
what was the size of the available fleet, what reve- 
nues were to be derived from the kingdoms and 
provinces, an estimate of the expenses, and a cal- 
culation of the income. Peace reigned throughout 
the world, the warlike gate of the Temple of Janus 
was closed, the great Eoman Empire dominated 
over every known land and held sway over every 
sea. It was just the time when the Prince of 
peace should enter this world. So then, to inscribe 
himself, Joseph quitted his beloved and quiet city 

90 



THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 91 

of Nazareth. It took four days' travel by foot to 
reach Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary travelled 
slowly on account of Mary's condition : the jour- 
ney was probably made easier for her by riding a 
donkey. St. Joseph, carrying a staff, walked be- 
side the Virgin holding the guide straps of the 
donkey. They passed outside of the walls of Jeru- 
salem, on their left were the walls of Mount Sion ; 
they passed the lower pool of Gihon, up the hill 
of Evil Counsel, until they reached the plain of 
Eephaim, and then turned to the road to Bethle- 
hem. Now and then, as they journeyed on, Joseph 
related some incident of the struggles with the 
Philistines on that plain, he pointed out KacheFs 
tomb which Abraham had bought for a family 
burying-place, and often as he raised his compas- 
sionate eyes to her face he saw there the ecstatic 
beauty of one engaged in prayer. The crowds were 
becoming more dense, every one striving to get to 
Bethlehem by a certain time. 

In the distance they could now already discern 
the ancient city to which they were hastening. 
The village is located on a long whitish range of 
hills, the slopes covered with olive and fig trees, 
and vines growing along arbor-like trestles as if 
shade were looked for more than fruit. It was 
towards evening when they arrived at Bethlehem: 



92 THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 

they wandered from house to house, but there was 
no room, so they had to look for humbler dwell- 
ings. They called at one of the khans, which at 
ordinary times afforded shelter for man and beast, 
but on this occasion the travel to Bethlehem was 
so great that even these places were crowded. A 
khan was no luxurious hotel or hostelry ; it was 
a simple stone enclosure, the height of a man, 
within which merchandise could be stored for a 
time. Sheds for cattle were all that were to be 
found there. It was something of the nature of a 
village green, where the markets are held and busi- 
ness of all kinds is transacted. The stranger that 
came along looked for no house. He spread a 
blanket on the ground near his goods and beasts, 
and there lay down to take his rest. He brought 
wdth him his own food and fodder for his animals. 
Such was the aspect of the place before which 
Joseph and Mary presented themselves. As Jo- 
seph came nearer, the painful certainty broke on 
him that it would be almost impossible to find 
shelter. Every place was occupied. Within and 
without was a clamorous, pushing multitude, all 
looking for a resting-place. 

Then said Joseph to Mary : " It is as I feared, 
my beloved one, there is no room for us anywhere. 
I will try to reach the gatekeeper ; perhaps he 



THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 93 

will do me a favor. He may have some place in 
reserve/ 5 When Joseph reached the keeper, he 
said to him : " Peace of Jehovah be with you. 1 
am a Bethlehemite. Is there no room to be found 
for one in distress ? 55 The keeper, already grown 
impatient, turned an angry glance on him and 
said : " There is no more room, as you can see for 
yourself/ 5 " Ah ! but have pity on her whom I 
am conducting to Bethlehem. She is my w r ife. 
The night is cold, and she will die if left in the 
open air. She is the daughter of Joachim and 
Ann of this place ; but they are dead/* " I knew 
them/" was the answer. " They were good and 
pious people/" 

" We, too,* 5 continued Joseph, pleading, " are of 
the royal house of David/" 5 

There was no greater boast on the lips of a 
Jew than to be of the royal house of David. It 
was a family ever held in greatest respect. Though 
a thousand years had passed, still the intimate con- 
nection of that kinsr with the sacred writings of 
the Jews kept their love for the family alive. 

The keeper then said : " I cannot turn you 
away. I will conduct you to a place of refuge. 55 

" My blessing on you, my dear friend," 5 said Jo- 
seph ; " may Jehovah shower upon you His great- 
est favors for this kindness. 55 Then Joseph sought 



94 THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 

Mary, and the keeper, taking hold of the leading 
straps of the animal, led the way. They walked 
through the crowds of men and beasts, some of 
them sleeping and others guarding their merchan- 
dise. They descended the slope, and the keeper 
guided them to a structure partially built against 
the side of a hill ; but so narrow was it that you 
were sure it must hide the face of a cave, and so 
it did. " Here/' said the keeper, " is shelter which 
I can let you have. This cave must have been a 
resort of your ancestor David. From the field be- 
low us and from the well down in the valley he 
used to drive his flocks here for safety." And con- 
tentedly Mary and Joseph came to it to take pos- 
session. To the Jew of that period there was noth- 
ing revolting in making a temporary home in a 
cave, and Bethlehem especially abounded in caves. 
When looking for shelter these herdsmen knew 
how to be satisfied ; the shepherd did not want 
anything better than this. 

The keeper drew a wooden bolt that barred the 
door and swung open the gate that led to the cave, 
and invited them to enter. The guests entered. 
The darkness was so great that even with the help 
of the lamps they were unable for a while to ob- 
serve anything. At last they could see a floor, 
smooth and well beaten but dusty; piles of grain and 



THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 95 

fodder in a corner, earthenware and old crockery 
in the centre. Mangers of wood were ranged along 
the walls for sheep., spider-webs tangled and torn 
hung like rags in dusty festoons from the ceiling. 

" You are welcome; what you find here you may 
make use of " said the keeper. Joseph at once busied 
himself in setting things in order. Suddenly the 
cave was lighted up with a bright light from 
heaven, which continued as long as the Holy Fam- 
ily dwelt there. Everything else was now in dark- 
ness, and in the silence of the night men and beasts 
slept. 

With a heart full of compassion St. Joseph 
had done all he could to make the surroundings 
more comfortable. He knew now that this was the 
place where the King of kings, the Saviour of man- 
kind, was to make His appearance in the world. 
Picture to yourself Mary on her knees in the 
humble attitude of prayer, absorbed in the con- 
templation of the mercies of God. Not far away 
is Joseph filled with the love of God, and longing 
to be of use in this trial. He would rather that 
Jesus should be born in a house, for he sees the 
discomforts of the place they then were in ; but 
he is resigned to the will of God in all tilings. 
How happy would Mary and Joseph have been had 
they remained in their humble dwelling in Xaza- 



96 THE NATIVITY OF OUR IOBD. 

reth ! but so it had been preordained by divine 
rovidenee. But the blissful moment has come ! 
At midnight a watchman of the khan cried out 
to some sleepers : " Hey there ! here is something 
extraordinary. What light is that in the sky ? " 
The people saw the rays of a singularly bright 
star descending and spreading out over a good por- 
tion of the plain, and there, distinctly lighted up 
by the illumination, could be seen the flocks and 
the shepherds. Nature seemed to be at peace ; 
'solemn stillness reigned everywhere. The world 
appeared to stand still, waiting for a great event 
to take place. Suddenly the adorable Child ap- 
peared surrounded by a bright light, and with eyes 
full of love He stretched out His tiny hands to His 
Mother. She took Him into her arms and adored 
Him, the Creator and Saviour of the world. Mary 
was now the Mother of God. Hers was an unspeak- 
able happiness. She had preserved her virginity 
in giving birth to this divine Child. As St. Augus- 
tine says, she was a virgin before His birth, during 
His birth, and after His birth. 

Mary hastened to wrap the child in swaddling- 
clothes : the night was chilly, and the divine In- 
fant was exposed to the cold in this cave un- 
suited for human habitation. That Child, though 
the Cod-man, had subjected Himself to all the 




THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 



THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 97 

vicissitudes of life, and like other babes He felt 
the severe cold of those mountains of Judea. No 
doubt also the first cry escaped from the divine 
Infant and the first tears coursed down His 
cheeks. 

There was no cradle there, nor bed, only dusty 
mangers, made of wood rudely put together by the 
shepherds who sometimes came there. Putting 
some straw within one of these and spreading a 
little linen cloth over it, Mary laid the Child on 
this humble bed. Then it was that St. Joseph 
also knelt in adoration of the holy Child and 
poured forth his soul in silent prayer. We feel 
certain, too, that he was often privileged to take 
the Child Jesus in his arms, and then, no doubt, 
he showed signs of greatest tenderness and love 
not only as a father, but as one who was persuaded 
of the divine character of the Child. With faith 
no less than that of the shepherds, with an en- 
thusiasm as great as that of the Magi, he made 
that public act of faith by which he openly ac- 
knowledged the presence among men of the Son 
of God. 

Unite, my dear children, in the adoration and 
love of our blessed Lady and St. Joseph at the 
manger. Go before the altar of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment ; the Child Jesus is there as He was in the 



98 THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 

cave of Bethlehem. From His tabernacle He 
blesses you, He watches you, and loves you as He 
did on this first Christmas morning in the stable 
at Bethlehem. 



Ube HDoratfon of tbe Sbepberfcs, 

Down in the valley, perhaps a mile distant, 
were shepherds with their flocks. To protect the 
sheep from the marauding wolf they were driven 
at night into enclosures surrounded by walls as 
high as a man, and were all secure. Near the 
gate of the sheepfold the shepherds kindled a 
fire; some were talking and others were stretched 
at full length on their sheepskins. They usually 
went bareheaded, their hair stood up straight and 
unkempt, thick beards covered their chins and 
throats, mantles of the skins of kids and lambs 
wrapped them from neck to knee, leaving their 
arms exposed. Leather belts secured these rude 
garments to their bodies. From their shoulders 
hung a leather bag for food, and coarse sandals 
protected their feet. You would say they were a 
rough set of men, illiterate and almost savage ; 
still they must have been deeply religious, tender- 
hearted too ; but they led a very primitive life, 
constantly wandering about, either herding their 

99 



100 THE ADORATION OF ■ THE SHEPHERDS. 

own sheep or the flocks of some rich farmer that 
were entrusted to their care. 

But these men, rude and simple as they were, 
had some education. On the Sabbath day they 
performed their purifications, as other Jews were 
accustomed to do, and assembled in the syna- 
gogues. They listened to the reading of the sacred 
Scriptures, and often heard that the Lord was one 
God, and that they must love Him with all their 
soul. Certainly those who were to find favor in 
His sight must have been noted for the love of 
God, and were now to be rewarded by the privilege 
of which we are about to speak. These shepherds 
were keeping their night watches, when at mid- 
night they sprang to their feet alarmed and daz- 
zled; fear grasped their very hearts. "What is this?" 
they gasped rather than spoke. The sky looked as 
if it were afire, but there was one particular place 
that claimed their attention. A bright spot in all 
this light, growing more and more distinct, seemed 
to approach until it assumed the form of a man. 
Bright shining wings extended upwards from his 
shoulders in graceful lines. He was dressed in gar- 
ments glittering with gold and soft as finest silk. 
With a countenance radiant with joy and with a 
cairn smile, he bade the shepherds take courage. 
"Fear not," he said, "I am an angel from God. 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 101 

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
which shall be to all the people/' Assured by 
these words and by the peace of God which entered 
their souls, they no longer feared. They under- 
stood at once that there was news of the Messias. 
The long-expected Child is at last born. " For 
this day/' continued the angel, " is born to you a 
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of 
David/' But there must be a sign by which this 
great divine Visitor could be known. Where should 
they find the Infant ? In a palace, in the houses 
of the great ? They knew that such people as they 
were would not find welcome or entrance there. 

To this day the Jews are looking for a Messias. 
But what notions have they of His appearance ? 
He is to be a great leader ; fear and trembling will 
strike His adversaries. They will flee and leave 
to the Jews the land of promise — the land flowing 
with milk and honey. The shepherds were Jews, 
and perhaps they, too, had notions of this kind ; 
but the sign is given them. " This shall be a sign 
to you/' said the angel. " You shall find the In- 
fant wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a 
manger." The shepherds were not astonished at 
this strange message, but were happy in the 
thought that they were to see the great Messias. 
Then the angel ascended from the earth, radiant 



102 THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS, 

with light, and as he soared high into the air a 
countless multitude of angelic spirits gathered 
about him, and all sang in one full chorus, " Glory 
to God in the highest and on earth peace to men 
of good will." The hills re-echoed the glorious 
canticle again and again. It was repeated through 
every variety of melody until it died away in the 
great vaults of heaven. 

This was the great manifestation that God gave 
His divine Son when He appeared in human form 
for the first time on this earth. He called the 
angels down from heaven to adore Him. As it is 
written in the sacred Scriptures, " All the angels 
shall adore Him/' In astonishment the shepherds 
looked at one another and asked : " Who was that 
great, bright angel ? " " It must have been Ga- 
briel, the Lord's messenger/' " What did he 
say ? " " He said that Christ is born." " But 
where shall we find Him ? Where is He born ? 
The angel did not tell us where to look. He said 
we would find the Infant wrapped in swaddling- 
clothes and laid in a manger. Why, it must be 
that He is to be found where the mangers are. 
That place we know well. We have often seen the 
cave and have passed stormy nights there. Let us 
go thither and search for Him; it is not far away." 

They set out together, taking with them same 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 103 

tender lambs as offerings to the Holy Family. 
When they arrived at the gate of the inn, and were 
making their way to the rear, the keeper stopped 
them and asked, " What do you want ? " They 
answered : " We have seen a great wonder, and 
probably yon, too, have seen that great light over 
yonder. An angel spoke to us words of joy that 
a Christ is born to the world. Allow us to pro- 
ceed then, for they are in the cave beyond, where 
the mangers are. We are told to look for Him 
there. Come with us and let us visit the Child." 
Having arrived at the cave they found Joseph. 
They asked with anxiety : " Where is the Child 
that is born this night, the Christ ? for we have 
seen His angel and he directed us hither." St. 
Joseph answered quietly, " The Child is here with 
His Mother." Eespectfully they entered, and with 
eager eyes they searched for the new-born Babe, 
and found Him lying on a little straw in a 
manger. The Child made no outward sign of in- 
telligence or recognition, but like other infants it 
was closely wrapped in swaddling-clothes and slept. 
" It is the Lord. Yes, this is the Babe of which 
we were told by heavenly messengers." They 
formed a close circle around the Mother and Child, 
and falling on their knees they kissed the hem of 
the Mother's garment. Then they related all that 



104 THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 

had happened to the wondering Mother and Jo- 
seph, who listened attentively and thought of 
God's mercy to man. 

Then the shepherds went back to their flocks 
and told the story to their companions who had 
been left behind. The little city in which all these 
wonders took place was ignorant of God's great 
mercy to the human race. Bethlehem was not 
considered worthy of the grace of knowing that 
the Saviour was born. 

0, Mother of Jesus, how great was thy love for 
thy divine Son ! Such was the unspeakable mag- 
nificence of her soul in that love and first adora- 
tion, that the praises of all the saints and angels 
could not equal hers. 

What graces were poured out on Joseph that 
he, too, might worthily adore the Lord ! He is 
the foster-father of Jesus ; he is a vessel of divine 
predilection, eternally predestined to the great 
and singular office of being the protector of the 
divine Infant and His Mother. " Jesus is born 
to us. Let us go and adore Him/' sings the 
Church, and she leads us all to the crib of Beth- 
lehem. With fond delight she shows us the sur- 
roundings. There is the weeping Infant in swad- 
dling-clothes and laid in a manger ; there is St. 
Joseph caring for the divine Infant; there is the 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 105 

Mother Mary full of love and adoration for the 
Child ; near the manger is an ox and an ass. That 
Child is God, that Mother is our dear heavenly 
Queen, that Joseph is our dear patron. We too 
belong to that family even at this distant time, 
for we too love Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. 

Dear children, let us go in spirit to Bethlehem 
and learn the things the shepherds learned ; prac- 
tise the same virtues of faith and humility which 
they practised. Let us be as generous as they 
were in their poverty. Let us approach with their 
eyes of faith and see all that is to be seen. There 
is the little Babe of Bethlehem looking at us with 
a sweet smile, His arms extended towards us in 
mercy and kindness. This is the great God who 
shall save His people of Israel ; He is the eternal 
God, all-powerf ul and infinite, who in heaven at 
God^s right hand holds the universe in the palm 
of His hand ; who has created all that you see 
about you : who has created you too. Without 
Him nothing can exist in the whole world. To 
know that God created all things is easy to pro- 
fess, but to recognize the omnipotent God in this 
Child is a stumbling-block to many. 

Assisted by the grace of God and enlightened 
by His wisdom we shall not hesitate ; but like the 
shepherds, falling down with love, reverence, and 



106 THE ADOBAT10N OF THE SHEPHERDS. 

adoration before the God made man, we will offer 
Him our homage. 

Whom do you see most frequently in oui 
churches at the crib admiring the sweet Infant ? 
Little children. Grown people are sometimes 
moved to tears as they gaze on the little flock, 
trooping up hand in hand, making their quaint 
genuflections and moving their lips in prayer ; 
or when a mother with her child kneels before 
the altar and tells her little one the story of Beth- 
lehem, and asks the child to make the sacrifice of 
its penny to the Infant Jesus. 

My dear children, be as familiar with the Child 
Jesus as you are with other children, for in this 
devotion the divine Child speaks especially to 
children. How full of awe you would be if you 
should see God in all His majesty ! Then you 
might fear and tremble, but the love of the Christ- 
Child is a kind of divine worship, of which neither 
angels nor men ever could have dreamed. And 
this Child is so small, so kind, that the most ap- 
propriate offering to Him is the love and familiar- 
ity of children. 

Coleridge in an admirable stanza describes the 
finding of the Child by the shepherds : 

The shepherds went their hasty way, 
And fonnd the lonelv stable-shed 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 107 

Wherein the Virgin Mother lay: 

And now they checked their eager tread, 
For to the Babe that at her bosom clung, 

A mother's song the Virgin Mother sung. 
They told her how a glorious light, 

Streaming from a heavenly throng, 
Around them shone, suspended night, 

While sweeter than a mother's song- 
Blest angels heralded the Saviour's birth, 

Glory to God on high! and peace on earth. 

The ox and the ass are always represented in 
pictures of the stable of Bethlehem. Probably 
they are found there because it is a stable, and 
naturally enough some such animals may have 
been there. Perhaps, too, it is in consequence 
of the old prophecy of Isaias : " The ox knoweth 
his owner and the ass his master's crib." Their 
presence does not seem incongruous, because all 
nature adored its Infant Lord. The good Breton 
peasants believe that at midnight on Christmas 
the ox and the ass are gifted with speech, and so 
they hide themselves in the stable to listen to the 
conversation which these animals are supposed to 
hold among themselves. 

As the shepherds joyfully left their flocks at 
the dead of night to look for the new-born Babe, 
so we, faithful children of God and His Church, 
will gladly gather round the altar at the invita- 



108 THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. 

tion of the priests, for they are God's messengers 
and angels. Our faith teaches us that there is the 
same Jesus, under the appearance of bread, in the 
Blessed Sacrament. The shepherds saw a little 
Child and they adored Him. We see only the 
consecrated bread, but we know that Jesus is 
there, and we also adore Him. 

What great blessings did not the shepherds de- 
rive from that visit to Our Lord ? Mary held the 
divine Infant out towards them and blessed them. 
Pray to these happy men in heaven, that we, too, 
after having faithfully followed the Lord, may 
one day also enjoy a joyous Christmas in heaven. 



ZTbe /Ifcagu 



Our good Lord, the Saviour of all men, rich 
and poor, had called the humble and ignorant 
shepherds to His sacred crib. He loves the poor 
because they have by necessity the virtues which 
naturally endear them to His heart. To the poor 
He preached, and those who came into close con- 
tact with Him were also poor. The first He ad- 
mitted to adore Him were poor Jews. Now He 
wishes to have the Gentiles come to Him, men 
of learning, wealth, and public standing. By a 
miracle He called the Magi from the East. He 
brought them by the light of a star to the very 
cave in Bethlehem. 

,It is quite certain that there were other nations 
that expected the coming of the Messias. Some, 
perhaps all, had vague prophecies among them 
concerning Him. Even among the barbarous but 
poetic tribes of the Norseman distinct mention is 
made of the coming of the Expected of nations. 

The Jews had clear promises of the coming of 

109 



110 THE MAGL 

the Messias, and the other nations who had read 
the sacred books of the Jews also learned from 
these prophecies that a Saviour was to be born. 

When the Israelites on their way to the Prom- 
ised Land w T ere about to pass through the country 
of Moab, King Balac summoned -to his court a 
heathen prophet named Balaam to curse the He- 
brew people ; but the Lord compelled the false 
prophet against his will to pronounce a blessing. 
So looking far away into the future ages, and 
raising his voice he said : " A star shall rise out 
of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Is- 
rael and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall 
waste all the children of Seth. And He shall pos- 
sess Idumea ; the inheritance of Seir shall come 
to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully. 
Out of Jacob shall He come that shall rule and 
shall destroy the remains of the city." This is 
a remarkable prophecy. It clearly shows that a 
Messias shall come, that a star shall appear, and 
that the nations of the East shall be brought to 
the Lord. 

The heathen nations had come to believe that 
among the Jews a mighty king would one day be 
born, who would bring the Gentiles and their 
w^hole country under Jewish dominion. In the 
course of long ages people naturally lost sight of 



THE MAGL 111 

these wonderful prophecies ; still the tradition 
always remained, especially in the East, where 
men were very studious in religious matters and 
in astronomy. Years upon years passed. Wise 
men hoped that in their day the star would ap- 
pear ; but like the long wait which the human 
race had gone through, so also these wise men 
were doomed to a long expectation. Generations 
after generations died, still the hope of the com- 
ing of a Eedeemer did not die with them. The 
watchers on the tower waiting for the star were 
replaced from age to age by others. 

The Magi were pious and wise people ; they ap- 
pear at all times to have worshipped one supreme 
divinity. In those Eastern countries there were 
neither altars nor statues in the temples. The 
choirs never marched with other than reverent 
gravity, sending up to God their solemn chants 
and prayers. 

The religion of the Persians spread along into 
Mesopotamia, and thus it came under the influ- 
ence of the captives from Jerusalem. Daniel, the 
prophet, was certainly well known in the vicinity 
of his captivity. We know from Scripture that 
this prophet, after his introduction into the palace 
of JSTabuchodonosor, showed himself more wise 
than the soothsayers of Chaldea, and hence 



112 THE MAGI. 

through the favor of the prince he was placed at 
their head. Under the succeeding dynasties his 
fame increased, and was afterwards confirmed by 
the triumphs of the Persians. 

The Magi were from the same country, and 
could not have been ignorant of the predictions 
of Daniel concerning the coming of the Messias, 
in which he had gone even so far as to mark the 
year, month, and hour of the Kedeemer's birth. 
From Daniel they had learned that the Saint of 
saints, who should receive the divine anointment, 
was that very One whom Balaam had beheld rising 
from Israel like a star. 

From the Magi the prophecies were dissemi- 
nated among the people, and at this time there 
was a settled conviction that a king was to arise 
from Judea who should conquer the world, and 
with great longing they expected his coming. 

You cannot, my dear children, form an idea of 
the hardships that human beings had to undergo 
in those remote times. The condition of the com- 
mon people was mostly slavery. Men had to suffer 
all the privations of war and want. They did not 
have the conveniences of the present day. Com- 
forts were very few ; houses were mere huts. Was 
it a wonder, then, that all humanity sighed for a 
Eedeemer from this heavy load ? Would it not 



THE MAGI. 113 

be reasonable to think that the One who was to 
free men from the slavery of Satan and sin would 
also better their condition in every other way ? 
The advent of Christ has done a great deal tow- 
ards the alleviation of human misery. The 
world has become more enlightened, the condition 
of woman has improved, arts and sciences flourish 
among the nations of the world, and all men have 
felt the wonderful effects of His coming. 

The Magi knew what the nations expected and 
on what foundations they trusted. They were 
Gentiles whom God called to be added to the 
chosen race of His people on earth. A new era 
of mercy and goodness was to be inaugurated by 
the admission of these men to the adoration of 
the true God. 

My dear children, as these wise men were study- 
ing the heavens a new star appeared, and as they 
were gazing at it, it took the form of a child and 
beckoned them to follow. 

A star, not seen before, in heaven appearing, 

Guided the Wise Men thither from the East 

To honor Thee with incense, myrrh, and gold. 

By whose bright course, led on, they found the place. 

Affirming at Thy star new graven in heaven 

By which they knew the King of Israel born.* 



Milton's Paradise Regained. 



114 THE MAGI. 

A tradition asserts that these Magi were the 
representatives of three great nations who de- 
scended from Noe's sons. Starting from different 
points and following the guiding star, the Magi 
travelled unknown to one another until they met 
on the way and found they were on the same er- 
rand. Each had been guided by a star, but at 
their meeting the stars united and became one. 
Then they told one another their reasons for tak- 
ing this journey. The Greek told his story first. 
" I believed in God invisible, yet supreme. I also 
believed it possible so to yearn for His coming 
with all my soul, that He would take compassion 
and give me answer. From a poor Jewish slave 
I heard of the true God, the Lawmaker of their 
people. One night in my dreams I saw a star 
beginning to burn. Slowly it rose, and, draw- 
ing near, it stood above my door so that its light 
shone full upon me. Then a voice said, '0 Gaspar, 
blessed art thou ! With these two others who 
come from the uttermost parts of the earth thou 
shalt see Him that is promised. In the morning 
arise and go forth to meet Him.' When I awoke 
I remembered my vision. I looked for the star, 
and truly it was a reality. I followed it, and here 
we have met." 

Melchior had also his story to tell. " I studied 



THE MAGI. 115 

the ancient system of religion in the East, follow- 
ing God through all stages and becoming one with 
Him, and with the desire to know more of Him fill- 
ing my heart. To me also in a dream came a vision, 
saying ' Thy love has conquered ; the redemption 
is at hand. With others from different quarters 
of the earth come and see the new-born God.' 
And there appeared a star which showed me the 
way and has never deserted me. Through all 
these deserts this thought was always uppermost 
in my mind : I am to see the Kedeemer, to speak 
to Him, to worship Him/' 

Now it was Balthassar's turn to give an account 
of the manner in which he had been led by the 
star. Egypt was a country of very great learning. 
Probably no other people were as learned as the 
Egyptians. The children of Israel for a long time 
had been in bondage in Egypt. From them 
came the knowledge of the coming of the Messias. 
" One night/'' said Balthassar, " a light suddenly 
appeared, and soon I saw a star rising which 
moved towards me, and I heard the words, 
' Blessed art thou. Arise, thy redemption is at 
hand/ I arose and followed the guiding light 
which brought me here/' 

The Magi journeyed on, each one relating his 
experience of God's mercy to him, until they 



116 TEE MAGI. 

reached Jerusalem, when the star disappeared. 
They therefore knew they were at their journey's 
end, and, entering the city, they made their way 
to the royal palace and asked of the curious mul- 
titude the extraordinary question, " Where is the 
new-born King of the Jews ? We have seen His 
star in the East, and have come to adore Him/ 5 
But no one knew. They inquired of Herod, but 
lie had not heard of the great event of which these 
men spoke. 

The Magi came to Jerusalem under the guid- 
ance of the star. Up to this it had shone beauti- 
fully and brightly, but at the gates of the royal 
city its light was extinguished, as if the Magi were 
at their journey's end. But they were forced to 
enter the city to make inquiry. They went to the 
royal palace thinking that there they would most 
probably find what they sought. The city 
was dark and quiet ; there seemed to be no re- 
joicing there ; it did not look as if Jerusalem was 
rejoicing over the birth of a new-born king. 
There is usually great feasting at the birth of a 
new-born aspirant to the throne, but here every- 
thing was silent and showed no sign of any ex- 
traordinary event. The Magi sent their servants 
in advance to ask, " Where is the new-born King ? 
we have come from the East to adore Him/' 



THE MAGL 117 

What consternation this caused among the peace- 
ful inhabitants ! They feared a bloody revolution; 
they knew what it meant to them if they showed 
signs of joy at the news ; for Herod was not very 
firmly seated on his throne, and were he to hear 
of any demonstration of joy he would send his 
soldiers into the city and the inhabitants would 
be struck down by the sword. Cases of this kind 
had taken place on several occasions, and though 
the people sighed for a change of rulers they were 
careful not to show it. 

The question of the Magi flew from lip to lip 
and soon reached Herod's ears. He, too, was 
thrown into alarm, for he knew the mind of the 
people, and the question did not forebode any good; 
it was like the muttering of a distant threat that 
his days of supremacy were at an end. It was 
known that this new-born Babe was destined to be 
the new occupant of the throne, the new-born King 
of the Jews : it was easy to see from the excite- 
ment which suddenly pervaded the city that all 
Jerusalem interpreted the inquiry of the Magi in 
that same light. 

Picture to yourself the consternation of the 
people and their ruler when a foreign embassy ac- 
tually invaded their city looking for a new-born 
king. Herod did not say that these men were de- 



118 TEE MAGI. 

hided. He had an idea that it was the Messias 
chat was in question, so he called the scribes to- 
gether and laid before them this momentous 
question, " Where is the new-born King of the 
Jews ? " The Magi concluded that Bethlehem 
was the place in which the Messias was to be born, 
for they found in the old prophecies a distinct an- 
nouncement in these words : " And thou, Beth- 
lehem, the land of Juda, art not the least among 
the princes of Juda. For out of thee shall come 
forth the Captain who is to rule My people Israel." 
Herod also came to the same conclusion, and he 
said to the Wise Men : " Go and diligently inquire 
after the Child, and when you have found Him, 
bring me word again, that I, also, may come and 
adore Him." In this manner Herod dismissed the 
Magi, who at once set about their search with 
which they were commissioned by the king him- 
self. A servant of Herod preceded them and 
showed them the way to the Joppe gate. They 
encouragingly said to one another : " Let us go 
on to Bethlehem as the king advised, and not 
tarry on the way. We can rest when our mission 
is over." At the gate directions were given them 
by the attendants, and they set out on their jour- 
ney. Everything was dark and they almost de- 
spaired. Had their star deserted them ? Was it 



THE MAGI. 119 

no longer to guide them, since they knew now 
where the}' had to go ? But soon their trouble 
was changed into joy. All at once there was a 
bright flash that illumined the whole country 
about. The Magi were almost blinded by the 
brightness that shone so suddenly in the darkness, 
but when their eyes became accustomed to the 
light they recognized their familiar star, which 
beckoned them to follow. They shouted a joy- 
ful salute to their heavenly guide, saying : "Let 
us on. God is with us ! God is with us ! " They 
travelled on securely, firmly, and quietly, needing 
no further directions. 

It was towards morning that the Magi ap- 
proached Bethlehem, the star moving on before 
them, its brilliancy brightening up the road and 
the trees on the wayside. Those who saw the 
light were awe-stricken. They thought it was a 
slowly passing meteor. It approached the khan, 
shedding its brightness over the enclosure, and 
then remained stationary at the cave. The cara- 
van entered the gate, to the astonishment of the 
keeper. He looked with wonder at the camels of 
unusual size and whiteness, which moved with 
such stateliness. The star revealed the rich trap- 
pings of the animals and the wealth which they 
carried in packs. He saw the owners seated under 



120 THE MAGI. 

their canopies, while little bells were making an 
unusual tinkle as they moved slowly on, intent on 
the light before them. In the strange light the 
animals looked like a vision, and the keeper was 
so struck with terror that he did not hear the sa- 
lute of the travellers until it was repeated. " Is 
this Bethlehem of Juda ? " " Yes/ 1 he said. 
" The town itself, however, lies a short distance 
farther on." " We have followed," the Magi said, 
" this star which you see, and now it stands mo- 
tionless over there before a house. Is the new- 
born King of the Jews here ? Was a child born 
here ? " And the keeper answered : " In that 
house which covers the entrance to a cave a child 
was recently born. On the night on which it was 
born a bright light, something like this, illumined 
the whole country. It must be that Child for 
whom you are looking." " Yes, surely," the Magi 
answered, " that is certainly the Child. Make 
haste; let us adore Him." Then, as if to tell the 
Magi that they had truly found what they were 
looking for, the star rose higher and higher in the 
heavens, to show that it was withdrawn by divine 
hands, until at last it was lost among the other 
stars in the firmament. 

The souls of the Magi were filled with a heav- 
enly joy, as they crowded to the door and entered 



WSRi 




THE HOLY FAMILY. 



THE MAGI. 121 

the rude place. They saw the Child, and close by 
the Mother. With hearts overflowing with love 
they asked, " Is this the Child ? " and Mary re- 
plied, " Yes." She took the Child in her arms, 
and, sitting down, presented Our ■ Lord to them ; 
and they fell down and adored Him. The Child 
was as other children. There was no sign of di- 
vinity about Him. He spoke not, though prayers, 
adorations, and supplications were poured out at 
His feet. But the Wise Men of the East did not 
for an instant think that they had been deceived, 
that they must look for another Child greater, 
more divine-looking than this one. No, they be- 
lieved and adored. Their faith rested upon signs 
sent them by Him whom we know as the Father ; 
God the Creator who had worked all these mira- 
cles, and had sent the star to lead the Wise Men 
to the feet of the Infant God. 

Tradition tells us that the three Magi represent 
the three stages of manhood. Gaspar is pictured 
as a very old man with long white hair and long 
white beard, with the features of a descendant of 
Japhet, the European patriarch. Balthassar be- 
longs to the Semitic race ; he is middle-aged and 
black-haired. Melchior is the youngest ; he is 
represented as a negro or Moor with little black 
pages in attendance. 



122 THE MAGI. 

When the Magi appeared before Our Lord, they 
fell at full length before the Child, and adored 
Him as their King and Saviour. They had 
brought with them offerings for the new-born 
King, so that the prophecy might be fulfilled : 
" The kings of Tarshish and the islands shall offer 
presents ; the kings of the Arabians and of Saba 
shall bring gifts." They offered incense, the em- 
blem of prayer, as to a god. They gave Him gold, 
the token of His royalty, and myrrh as to the Sa- 
viour, who by His death would redeem the world. 
Some say that each king offered gold as a tribute 
of subjects to their Monarch. Mary received these 
gifts, in the name of her Son, and then gave the 
gold to the poor of the neighborhood. 

In return for the gold, incense, and myrrh the 
Lord gave the Magi the spiritual blessings of love, 
meekness, and perfect faith. 

The Magi of the East, in sandals worn, 

Knelt reverent, sweeping round 

With long white beards, their gifts upon the ground; 

The incense, myrrh, and gold 

These baby hands were impotent to hold.* 

We are also told that the Magi made presents 
to Mary and Joseph. 



Browning. 



THE MAGI. 123 

The Wise Men remained for some time in Beth- 
lehem. They could not tear themselves away from 
the presence of their Saviour. At the foot of the 
manger they received the new faith from the In- 
fant Jesus., and listened to many explanations 
from Mary and Joseph. 

In vain did Herod await the coming of the Wise 
Men to give him a report of their success in find- 
ing the new-born Babe, for an angel had come to 
them in their sleep and told them not to return 
to Herod, so they returned home by another way. 

The Magi had learned the lesson of self-abnega- 
tion and poverty from Our Lord. They gave all 
their possessions to the poor ; they laid aside their 
rich robes and went about preaching the birth of 
the Infant God. They were baptized, and fully 
instructed in the Christian religion, and became 
the first missionaries to their people in the East. 
Full of zeal for their Master, whom they had seen 
an Infant at His Mother's bosom, they preached 
Christ, and eventually died martyrs to their faith. 
The Empress St. Helena discovered their remains 
long after, and brought these precious relics to 
Constantinople. Some time later they were trans- 
ferred to the cathedral at Cologne, where tiny 
now rest in a magnificent tomb. The shrine of 
the three kings is well known throughout 



124 THE MAGI. 

Europe, and from all quarters the devout gather 
there to witness the exposition of the relics. 

Jesus is the King of kings, the Teacher of the 
learned, the Master of heaven and earth. Every- 
thing above and below is His, because He has 
created all. Kings obey and adore Him. Philoso- 
phers and wise men should take Jesus for their 
model, and follow His sacred teaching. All the 
wealth and power of the earth should be offered to 
Him, for in reality all belongs to Him. 

little Infant Jesus, how great Thou art! Our 
blessed Lady holds Thee in her hands, and yet 
Thou art more immense than the world, more 
powerful than kings, wiser than all philosophers 
and doctors. Thou hast nothing, not even a little 
bed, and yet Thou art richer than all the wealth 
of the world. Make me understand the honor 
that it is for me to be Thy faithful little servant ; 
to bow down before Thee, so that Thou mayst 
raise me to a throne in heaven. 



XTbe Circumcision, 

Whethek Our Lord was presented in the Tem- 
ple before the coming of the Magi matters little ; 
the time of the arrival of the Magi is not stated, 
but the circumcision always took place eight days 
after the birth of a male child. In this chapter 
wo ought to note three events. First, the circum- 
cision, by which a sign was made on the body ; 
then, a name was given to the child ; and lastly, 
he was presented to God as the first-born. 

Although not subject to the law, because He 
was God who made it, still Our Lord wished to 
be circumcised. It was an act of humiliation, it 
acknowledged the fact that He was outside the 
family of God and by this ceremony was intro- 
duced into it. This law was given to Abraham 
that he might set it as a sign on all his spiritual 
family; but Jesus wished to submit to the pain 
for our salvation and as an example of humility, 
obedience, and patience. This ceremony need not 
be performed in the Temple or synagogue ; when 
the child was eight days old it might be circum- 
cised by some respectable relative. Perhaps St. 

125 



126 THE CIRCUMCISION. 

Joseph shed the first blood of Our Lord, and it 
seems only right that he should be the head of 
the family, the natural priest of the family of God. 
The time had now come to give the Child a name. 
This name had been given by God the Father, 
and had been repeated by the angel to Mary. He 
was to be called Jesus, a name that spoke of salva- 
tion to the Jews. The sublimest titles of Christ 
are the Messias, the Majesty of the Son of God, 
the Anointed, the great King, the Pontiff ; by 
these names He was known in the Old Testament. 
He is the High Priest of God in the midst of His 
creatures, the supreme King of men and angels ; 
the Holy One of God, the Saint of saints, conse- 
crated by the Holy Spirit, who dwelt within Him. 
Mary and St. Joseph knew that the Son of God de- 
sired from the first to act like other men ; that 
He wished from His birth to show them an exam- 
ple of true virtue, and that He would not exempt 
Himself from any law. He Himself dictated that 
law to His servant Moses on Mount Sinai, and yet 
He submitted to it humbly like the least of His 
children. This then was the distinguished name 
by which the Lord was to be known in this world: 
Jesus, which means " He shall save His people 
from their sins." He saved them by washing away 
their sins, by imparting to them the grace of sue- 



THE CIRCUMCISION. 127 

cessfully resisting temptation, by conducting His 
followers to a place of heavenly bliss where sin is 
excluded. To know, then, whether we belong to 
those to whom Jesus is a Saviour, we must exam- 
ine whether we desire to be saved from sin, 
whether we regard sin as the greatest evil on earth, 
a»d whether, consequently, we are determined to 
renounce it with all the energy of our souls. 

Such is the meaning of the adorable name of 
Jesus, a name which God has raised above all 
names ; a name at which u every knee should bow 
of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under 
the earth" (Phil. ii. 10). St. Paul asserts that 
this sacred name cannot be pronounced worthily 
but by the grace of the Holy Ghost. 

St. Bernard says of the holy name : " Blessed 
name ! Oil flowing softly over the whole earth ! 
From heaven it flowed to Judea, from Judea over 
the whole w T orld. How striking the likeness of 
oil to the name of Jesus ! Oil has three qualities : 
it illuminates when burned, it nourishes when 
consumed, it heals when applied to wounds. So, 
too, the name of Jesus : it illuminates when He 
preaches, nourishes when He protects, heals when 
He is invoked. How could you explain this sud- 
den spread of the light of faith over the world but 
through the name of Jesus ? What more effec- 



128 THE CIRCUMCISION. 

tually nourishes our courage, what strengthens our 
virtue and maintains morality, what promotes 
chaste self-control, what fills the soul with sweet- 
ness and vigor as the name of Jesus ? Is one of 
us sad or timid, in danger, or perhaps in sin ? be- 
hold ! as soon as the name of Jesus enters his 
heart and ascends to his lips all gloom vanishes 
before the light and the anxious sinner breathes 
a new life. Insipid is that food which is not sea- 
soned with the oil of the name of Jesus. I take 
no pleasure in anything that may be written ex- 
cept I read there the name of Jesus, No words you 
may address to me will excite my interest unless 
I hear among them the name of Jesus. Jesus is 
honey in my mouth, music in my ear, and joy to 
my heart. Always carry this name in thy breast, 
as He Himself directs : ' Put Me as a seal upon 
thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm ? " (Cant. viii. 6). 
Sweet, amiable Infant Jesus ! With Thy 
Mother and St. Joseph, I adore Thee, lying in a 
manger ; with the shepherds, I kneel at Thy feet 
and acknowledge Thee, the Saviour of the world ; 
with the Magi, I come from afar, guided by faith 
to Thy humble cave, and offer there my gifts of 
gold, my best actions, my life in fact. I offer there 
the incense of adoration ; to my God I offer the 
myrrh of penance and mortification, 



XEbe presentation of tbe Cbilfc Jesus in 
tbe Uemple* XTbe purification of tbe 
Blessed IDirgfn. 

Aftek the birth of a son, according to the law 
of Moses, there was prescribed for the Jewish 
mother a term of purification. This time she 
passed in seclusion, and when the period was over 
she had to make her first journey with her child 
to the Temple ; the mother to be purified, and the 
first-born son to be offered to God. The mother 
was obliged to make an offering of a lamb a year 
old, or, if she w^ere poor, a dove. When the ful- 
ness of time had arrived, Joseph and Mary went 
to Jerusalem, she to be purified according to the 
law, and the Child to be consecrated unreservedly 
to the service of God. 

Now at this time there was in Jerusalem a just 
man, one who feared God, named Simeon, who 
lived in expectation of the consolation of Israel. 
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Ghost 
that he should not die before he had seen Christ 
the Lord. Simeon was a wise and learned scribe, 

129 



130 PRESENTATION AND PURIFICATION 

well versed in the Scriptures, as the scribes had to 
be, for they interpreted authoritatively the law of 
God. As Mary and Joseph were approaching, the 
Spirit moved Simeon also to go to the Temple, 
and they met at the gate. Nothing in the exterior 
of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph distinguished them 
from the rest of mankind ; but the Holy Ghost 
spoke to the old man, and when he met them face 
to face, he saw at once in the Child the coming 
Messias, His eyes were opened, and with a soul 
full of consolation he burst forth in this canticle 
of the divine Spirit : 

" Now Thou dost deliver Thy servant, Lord, 
according to Thy word in peace : Because my eyes 
have seen Thy salvation, that salvation which 
Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples. 
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the 
glory of Thy people Israel." 

This great hymn, which is known better per- 
haps by the first Latin words " Nunc dimittis," is 
so simple, so holy, there is such a desire in it to 
be dissolved and to be with God, that it is used in 
the burial services. It is one of the psalms of the 
canonical evening prayers. It revealed the. fact 
that Simeon wished to die, but could not until he 
should see Christ as God had made known to him. 
St.- Joseph and the Blessed Virgin were aston- 



PRESENTATION AND PURIFICATION 131 

ished that he was so clearly inspired with the dig- 
nity of the Child. Simeon held the Child in his 
arms. u Behold/' said he, u this Child is set for 
the fall and for the resurrection of many in Is- 
rael/' that is, He shall live to be contradicted by 
the Jews, who, by their sinful obstinacy, will bring 
eternal damnation on themselves. Then turning 
to Mary, he said : " Thy own soul a sword shall 
pierce that out of many hearts thoughts may be 
revealed." The Gospel says of him : " This man 
was just and devout, waiting for the consolation 
of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was in him." 

When these things were going on in the Tem- 
ple, one quiet old woman was witness of it all. 
" There was on$ Anna a prophetess, the daughter 
of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser : she was far ad- 
vanced in years, and had lived with her husband 
seven years from her virginity. And she was a 
widow until fourscore and four years : who de- 
parted not from the Temple, by fastings and 
prayers serving night and day. Now she at the 
same hour coming in, confessed to the Lord : and 
spoke of Him to all that looked for the redemp- 
tion of Israel" (Luke ii. 36-38). 

To Mary and Joseph, these events were con- 
soling because it made them understand that God 
was in a hidden and humble way working secretly 



132 PRESENTATION AND PURIFICATION. 

in behalf of His divine Son. " And after they 
had performed all things according to the law of 
the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city 
Nazareth/' 

In the presentation of Jesus and the purifica- 
tion of the Mother of God, we admire their obe- 
dience and their great humility. Though Jesus 
was not bound by any precept of the Old Law, still 
Mary did not excuse herself from " fulfilling 
everything according to the law of the Lord." 

The feast of the Purification of the Blessed 
Virgin is celebrated on the second of February, 
and is known as Candlemas-day. On that day 
candles are blessed by the priests, and the faithful 
take them home to burn when any sacrament is 
given ; for according to the law of the Church 
a w T ax candle must be burning while the priest is 
administering a sacrament. Candles are also used 
at a death, to show us that the soul lives though 
the body may be dead, that faith carries the light 
from this world to the other life. Again, pious 
people use them in severe thunder-storms, show- 
ing their lively trust in God's mercy, when the 
elements appear to express the anger of God and 
threaten destruction. 

Jesus, Light of the world, enlighten my mind 
that I may follow in Thy light, and persevere all 



PRESENTATION AND PURIFICATION 133 

through my life to imitate Thy glorious examples 
oi virtue, and that my life may be a light that will 
shine for the edification of all who see it. 

Mary also, as the sorrowful Mother, is not to 
be forgotten. We often see the Blessed Virgin 
represented in pictures with a sword piercing her 
heart ; oftener we find the heart of Mary pierced 
with seven swords, as not only one sorrow entered 
the heart of Mary, but she had to endure many 
pangs. Under the title of sorrowful Mother, her 
children love to come to her, because they think 
that having suffered so much in conjunction with 
the Passion of Our Lord, her sorrows and her 
prayers will plead most eloquently before the 
throne of God in their behalf. 

At the cross her station keeping 
Stood the mournful Mother weeping, 

Close to Jesus to the last. 
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, 
All His bitter anguish bearing, 

Lo! the piercing sword has passed! 



TLhc /iDassacre of tbe 1bolr> irnnocents, 

Herod waited for the Magi to return and tell 
him of their success in finding the new-born 
King of the Jews ; but he waited in vain. He saw 
now that he had been deceived, and at once de- 
termined to put into execution the resolution he 
had made at the coming of the Magi into Jeru- 
salem, namely, that of putting to death all the 
male children of two years and under, so as to 
make sure that Christ was among them. This 
cruelty need not surprise us, as Herod was a very 
wicked tyrant. During his reign he had his wife 
and two sons put to death. This massacre of 
the children is an historical fact, because it is re- 
lated in the Gospel, but the manner of its execu- 
tion or the number of victims is not known. The 
most natural supposition is that soldiers were sent 
to Bethlehem and the neighborhood and butchered 
the children with their swords. St. Augustine, in 
a sermon on the massacre of the holy innocents, 
says : " When the Lord was born, sorrow began, 
not for heaven, but for the world. Mothers wept, 

134 



MASSACRE OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 135 

but angels rejoiced. God is born ; He who came 
to condemn the malice of the world needed inno- 
cent victims. Lambs are sacrificed, because the 
Lamb of God is to be crucified. The sheep bleat 
because they are deprived of their offspring." 

Grand is the martyrdom, although the spe2tacle 
is a cruel one. Mothers sought by every means to 
hide their little ones, but they in their innocence 
gave evidence of their presence. They knew not 
the value of silence. The poor mothers cried out 
to the executioners, " Why do you separate me 
from him to whom I gave birth ? Has he with- 
out purpose sought nourishment at my breast ? 
With what care have I tended to that dear child 
whom you toss about with such cruelty ! You 
have disembowelled him and dashed him to the 
earth." One cried out : " Why do you not kill me 
with the child ? why do you leave me ? If there 
is any crime, it is I who have committed it ; if 
there is no crime, kill us both if it must be." An- 
other said : u For whom are you seeking ? You 
are looking for one Child, and you kill many ; but 
Him you will not find." Others again cried : 
u Come, oh, come, Saviour of the world! how long 
dost Thou defer Thy coming ? Thou fearest no 
one, do not allow our children to be murdered." 
The lamentations of the mothers ascended to 



136 MASSACRE OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 

heaven and the sacrifice of the little ones accom- 
panied them. 

Truly the prophecy quoted by St. Matthew was 
fulfilled : " A voice in Kama was heard, lamenta- 
tion and great mourning ; Eachel bewailing her 
children and would not be comforted, because 
they are not/' Consider the sorrow with which 
the divine Infant is penetrated at the death of 
these innocent victims, slaughtered for His sake ; 
it was revealed to St. Bridget that the Blessed 
Virgin was thrown into great anguish at hearing 
of this massacre. 

The slaughter of the innocents made little 
stir in Judea, for the poor Jews often suffered 
from the wholesale cruelty practised on them ; 
but they were powerless to resent it, and the 
spirit of opposition and hate to their governors 
became the greater. Antiquity had little respect 
for babyhood, so that nowhere do we find mention 
made of this act of cruelty except in the Gospel. 
Legend tells us that, in order to make his work 
easier and more certain, Herod invited all the 
mothers of Bethlehem to a feast in his palace at 
Jerusalem ; they were to bring their children un- 
der two years old that they might receive a gift. 
The unsuspecting mothers came in throngs and in 
holiday attire. When all were within the build- 
ing, and it was securely locked, Herod's execution- 




JESUS DISCOURSES WITH THE DOCTORS. 



MASSACRE OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 137 

ers rushed in among the horror-stricken mothers, 
tore their children from their arms, and murdered 
them before their eyes. Their bodies were thrown 
into a large pit, and then the mothers were al- 
lowed to go their way. As these holy innocents 
died for Christ's sake, they are the first martyrs. 

Hail ! first flowers of martyrdom ! Holy inno- 
cents ! Little witnesses to the divinity of the In- 
fant Jesus ! Little roses dyed with glorious 
purple ! Dear little ones of Bethlehem, patrons 
and protectors of Christian children, pray for us, 
that in our childhood we may give testimony of 
our faith, that we may also be innocent and love 
the Infant Jesus with a great love. 

Almighty God punished Herod, even in this 
life, as he deserved, but a greater punishment of 
eternal damnation awaited him in the other world. 
A horrid disease began to consume his body ; the 
corruption of the tomb devoured him during life. 
He sought relief from doctors and from healing 
baths ; but all to no purpose. He made an at- 
tempt on his own life ; when he regained con- 
sciousness and found he was near his end he gave 
orders that several of the best families of Jeru- 
salem should be killed, so that tears might be shed 
at his funeral. But he died, and the last cruel 
order was not executed. 



Ube jFiiQbt into Bgspt, 

To frustrate the malicious designs of Herod, 
God sent an angel to Joseph in his sleep, who said: 
" Arise, and take the Child and His Mother and 
fly into Egypt. There you will dwell until such 
time as I shall declare to you, for Herod is search- 
ing for the Child to destroy Him." Joseph in- 
stantly rose from his bed, and, taking the Child 
and His Mother, set forth on his journey. 

Away from the land of God, the land of their 
forefathers, they hastened in the darkness, fugi- 
tives from the cruel pursuit of an enemy. How 
and where they .went no one knows; the indication 
is that they went into Egypt : how far into 
that land they penetrated is not known ; we are 
certain that they must have gone into this coun- 
try, for there they were protected from the power 
of Herod, under the laws of a foreign country. 
Their journey had to be made in haste, for Beth- 
lehem was but two hours^ distant from JerusaLm, 
and at any moment the soldiers might arrive and 
cut off their retreat : no doubt the massacre was 

138 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 139 

ordered immediately after the departure of the 
Magi had become known, and moreover, even then 
there might have been spies about to locate the 
whereabouts of the divine Child. The jealousy 
which devoured the mind of Herod prompted him 
to secure his throne by whatever cruel means 
came first to his hand. The Gospel tells us 
nothing of this flight, for nothing very stranga 
happened to make any particular circumstance 
worthy of record. The long stretches of the desert 
witnessed the passage of the Holy Family ; at first 
they avoided coming in contact with the people 
and took refuge in old buildings or perhaps even 
under the canopy -of heaven. The painters and 
poets of the past have drawn fanciful pictures of 
dangers into which they ran, the robbers whom 
they met, the lions and tigers which came near 
them, but instead of showing their natural feroc- 
ity, only showed that they instinctively knew the. 
Master of the universe. The palm trees not only 
gave them shelter, but bowed down their heads 
to make it easy to get at the fruit. 

In Cairo is shown an old church which from 
time immemorial is designated as the temporary 
habitation of the Holy Family in Egypt. Here is 
shown an ancient dwelling of two rooms and an 
alcove, used by them, the place where Mary and 



140 THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 

the Infant Jesus retired and where Joseph had his 
separate lodging. There in the garden is also 
shown a tree of very great age, which to this day 
is called the Virgin's tree. However, it is not 
known why St. Joseph should have selected this 
spot for the sojourn of the Holy Family when the 
borders of the foreign land would have rendered 
all the necessary security. 

Then word came to St. Joseph that he should 
return to his home. Gladly indeed did these exiles 
return to Palestine. On their way they did not 
know where to direct their steps. Archelaus, 
Herod's son, was now governor of Judea, and 
keeping at a distance from the city of Bethlehem, 
the dreaded place, the Holy Family made Naza- 
reth happy by their presence. It was their old 
home, Joseph's parents and relatives had lived 
there, perhaps he even had property of his own 
there, for they inhabited the house that afterwards 
became famous, which is called the Holy House 
of Nazareth, and is now at Loretto. 



TLbc %itc of ©ur Xorb in IRasaretfo* XTbe 
Ifooip jFamilp* 

Tradition has it that Joseph was a carpenter 
by trade. St. Hilary thinks he worked in iron, 
making yokes and ploughs, but in the East at that 
time most of the agricultural implements were 
made of wood, and Joseph was able to work the 
little iron used about them. In many villages of 
Palestine where laborers are scarce, it is a gen- 
eral practice to combine several trades ; and thus 
St. Joseph worked sometimes in his shop, and at 
other times went out to do the little woodwork 
a house required. Those Eastern houses were 
mostly of stone ; the roof was of stone, and stone 
steps from the outside led to the top of the house. 
Mary stayed at home, an admirable mother of the 
family, fit model for all who have charge of a 
house ; working, too, as tradition tells us, to con- 
tribute her share to the scanty support that 
Joseph could scrape together : her spare hours oc- 
cupied in spinning linen and weaving it into cloth. 
The first Christians are said to have preserved 

141 



142 TEE HOLY FAMILY. 

beautiful specimens of her handiwork. Did not 
Our Lord, in His sermons, perhaps refer to this 
diligent housewife who made the dough and hid 
the leaven in it and watched it until it w^as all 
leavened and risen to its proper height ? He re- 
ferred to the* economical manager who mends the 
worn garment, who sweeps the house with care ; 
the neat housekeeper who cleanses the vessel*; the 
charitable widow who gives from the little she has. 
She is the strong woman of the Old Testament, 
as contemplative as Magdalen. She it was who, 
according to the custom of those days, ground the 
wheat for bread and prepared the frugal meal of 
fresh fish, dried meats, fruits, herbs boiled in 
water, milk and honey. At certain times of the 
day she, more beautiful than Eebecca, went to 
the fountain, which is shown to this day and ven- 
erated by pilgrims, to draw water for household 
use. 

Jesus was there in His infant grace and love- 
liness to contribute to the social life of Joseph 
and Mary. His loving arms often encircled His 
Mother's neck in a tender embrace ; His tongue 
was loosed, and He began to talk in adorable 
words to those who were near and dear to Him. 
In His innocent play He follows father and 
mother and sees them working at their duties; He 



THE HOLY FAMILY. 143 

asks them questions and astonishes them by His 
heavenly wisdom. You can imagine the divine 
Child playing in the workshop of Joseph among 
the shavings, and forming of little wooden blocks 
a model of the cross on which He was to die; even 
His shadow making startling portents of the fu- 
ture. You can see Him lightly tripping to the 
fountain with Mary or to the w^oods with Joseph, 
carrying the smaller tools or other necessaries for 
his trade. 

What beautiful scenes these are, which we nat- 
urally suppose that angelic visitors often looked 
upon with rapture ; how lovely were those meals 
taken in common; how holy the prayers that were 
said together! When the day was over these three 
holy ones sat down to table with affection and joy. 
Their conversation sometimes grave, sometimes 
joyful, but always sweet, found subject enough in 
the incidents of the day ; reminiscences of the 
flight into Egypt and other pious subjects passed 
the time pleasantly. Joseph loved to speak of that 
great providence of God, of which he had so many 
proofs. Mary spoke of the coming events of the 
life of Our Lord, and He must have opened her 
mind that she might see distinctly the course of the 
events. It was perhaps from such beautiful enter- 
tainments at their meals that Our Lord so easily 



144 THE HOLY FAMILY. 

passed into the scenes of His after life ; working 
His first miracle at the marriage feast of Cana, 
receiving the sinner Magdalen and forgiving" her 
sins at the table of the Pharisee, instituting; the 
Blessed Eucharist at the last supper. 

After the evening repast came the hour of 
prayer ; the quiet hours were spent on the roofs 
of the houses, fitted for the purpose. Peace reigned 
amid the Holy Family, the stars shone out 
brightly, and silence came over the streets. Jo- 
seph and Mary did not have to seek God in the 
immensity of the universe ; He was there in hu- 
man form, His face radiant with the love of His 
Father ; awake or asleep the glory of God shone 
on Him. They did not speak to Him of His di- 
vinity ; they poured out no praises on His sacred 
person ; He was still a child and, according to 
the will of God, He had to grow out of His child- 
hood before He would reveal Himself. But Mary 
and Joseph felt an indescribable emotion when 
they looked upon that divine Youth. The three 
holy ones remained together in silent ecstasy in 
which they saw the heavens opened and the glory 
of the Son of man shining brighter than the sun. 
Then all prostrated themselves in adoration of 
God, the divine Child mingling His prayers with 
theirs. In the vast silence of the night Heaven 



THE HOLT FAMILY. 145 

bent down to listen to their humble supplications; 
they seemed to be the echoes of the adoration of 
the choirs of angels. The powerful cry now began 
to arise to heaven, that cry which in after days 
was to continue, and find mercy for the human 
race. 




3esus among tbe doctors* 



When Jesus was about twelve years old, a very 
interesting incident took place ; it is related at 
some length by St. Luke, and means something. 
Perhaps it is to show that all through the life of 
Christ incidents like this took place, which are not 
recorded because they had no relation to the estab- 
lishment of the religion of Jesus. Another idea 
in it may be to show that, when the Child came to 
the use of reason, He was taught to subject Him- 
self to the law of Moses, and was instructed by the 
rabbis in the manner of observing the Jewish laws, 
customs, and ceremonies. Hence it is that Jesus, 
who was now twelve years old, accompanied Jo- 
seph and Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem, ac- 
cording to the law. Of course only the Jews 
within a reasonable limit were obliged to come to 
Jerusalem. On the Feast of Pentecost, and the 
Feast of the Tabernacles too, the pious Jew would 
take his whole family and wander slowly towards 
the sacred city. On this occasion it was the Pasch 
on which Our Lord visited Jerusalem. "His 

146 



JESUS AMONG THE DOCTORS. 147 

parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the sol- 
emn day of the Pasch. And when He was twelve 
years old, they going up into Jerusalem according 
to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the 
days, when they returned the Child Jesus re- 
mained in Jerusalem, and His parents knew it not. 
And thinking that He was in the company, they 
came a day's journey, and sought Him among 
their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And not finding 
Him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking Him. 
And it came to pass, that after three days they 
found Him in the Temple sitting in the midst of 
the doctors, hearing them and asking them ques- 
tions. And all that heard Him were astonished 
at His wisdom and His answers" (Luke ii. 41-47). 
Mary and Joseph, in great consternation, retraced 
their steps to Jerusalem, and reached the city just 
at daybreak. In pain and sorrow they hurried 
through the streets, searching and inquiring 
everywhere for the Child, but all in vain. Thus 
for three weary days they wandered up and down 
on their sad errand. They were full of grief, while 
He, their Child, was seemingly enjoying peace and 
happiness in the Temple of Jerusalem when they 
found Him. No wonder then that Mary broke 
out into just complaint at what she considered her 
Son's thoughtlessness, And seeing Him they 



148 JESUS AMONG THE DOCTORS. 

wondered,, and His Mother said to Him, "Son, 
why hast Thou done so to us ? Behold Thy father 
and I have sought Thee sorrowing." Joseph and 
Mary wondered that Jesus, a mere boy, was there 
among the doctors, but still commanding so much 
respect that these wise and learned doctors hum- 
bly answered every question which He gave them. 
Not only did He ask questions, but He pro- 
pounded the sacred texts so clearly to the doctors 
of the law that they marvelled at the erudition 
of this Child, this carpenter's son. 

Great was the relief and joy of Mary and Joseph 
when they beheld their beloved Son ; and Our 
Lord, turning to Mary, calmly said : " How is 
it that you sought Me ? Did you not know that 
I must be about My Father's business? " Mary and 
Joseph knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and 
was on this earth for the redemption of mankind 
— to reconcile humanity to the Father. Now, in- 
deed, He had come to the use of reason according 
to the flesh, and now was the time to declare em- 
phatically that all His acts hereafter were to be 
sacrifices to God. His whole life after this in its 
every smallest detail was in accordance with these 
words, " Did you not know I must be about My 
Father's business ? " There is no obstinacy in 
these words of Jesus ; they give the reason for His 



JESUS AMONG THE DOCTORS. 149 

conduct in remaining in Jerusalem unknown to 
them. The God-man must from henceforth be oc- 
cupied with God's honor and glory. God's interests 
are to be His life's occupation. His time for public 
appearance had not yet come ; the time of sub- 
jection, of obedience and of retirement, was to 
continue without interruption to the day of His 
final separation, when He should reach the age at 
which a man may begin to teach. " And He went 
down with them and came to Nazareth, and was 
subject to them." There was no exception to His 
obedience ; it extended to everything. 



'Twas the week of the Passover: only 

The aged, the sickly, the blind, 
The tottering children, and lonely 

Young mothers, had tarried behind. 
To sacredest feast of the nation, 

Through the paths that their fathers had trod, 
All others, with paschal oblation, 

Had gone to the city of God. 

The seven days' festival ended, 

Rites finished for people and priest, 
The throngs from the Temple descended, 

And homeward set face from the feast. 
And neighbor had converse with neighbor, 

Unwonted and simple and free, 
As northward they journeyed towards Thabor, 

Or westward thev turned to the sea. 



150 JESUS AMONG THE DOCTORS. 

But not till the night-dews were falling 

Did Mary, oft-questioning, find, 
As children to children were calling, 

That Jesus had lingered behind. 
He vex her — the Mother that bore Him ? 

Or veiled it some portent or sign? 
For oft had she trembled before Him, - 

Her human too near His divine. 

She sought midst her kinsfolk, whose pity 

Grew tender to look on her grief; 
Then back through the streets of the city 

She hastened, yet found not relief. 
Thus searching, a marvellous story 

Her ear and her senses beguiled: 
" The rabbis, gray-bearded and hoary, 

In the Temple are taught by a Child! " 

O marvel of womanly weakness ! 

She finds Him, — fears, sorrows, subside, 
And Mary, the angel of meekness, 

In petulance pauses to chide: 
" Son, wherefore thus tarry to gather 

About Thee the curious throng, 
Unheeding, the while, that Thy father 

And I have been seeking Thee long ? " 

A look so reproachingly tender, 

It awed while it melted her eye, 
He cast, as He hastened to render 

Subjection and filial reply: 
" Nay, wherefore perplexed and pursuing? 

Dost thou too, My Mother, forget 
And wist not the Son must be doing 

The work that His Father hath set?" 

— M. J. Preston. 



JESUS AMONG THE DOCTORS. 151 

Mary and Joseph did not understand the words 
of Our Lord ; it had not been revealed to them 
how the redemption of man was to be effected, 
but they engraved His words on their hearts. 
They knew He belonged to them by obedience for 
a while longer, but that the day would come when 
all would be made clear to them ; Mary believed, 
trusted, loved, and adored with all the powers of 
her soul. " And He went down with them, and 
came to Nazareth, and was subject to them ; and 
Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace with 
God and man." 



XTbe 3Bo£boo& of Jesus. 

Head so light upon my breast, 
Heart so quick against my own! 

Can it be that God doth rest 

Here, so babe-like, narrow-grown? 

Flaky, glowing hair has He, 

Breath like faintest jasmine sighs. 

Dreams, enchant my Dear for me; 
Sleep, soon veil my Baby's eyes! 

Nazaketh was the quiet home of the Son of 
God for many years. He was like other boys 
exteriorly. The boyhood as well as the in- 
carnation, is a mystery, as is the whole life of 
Christ. We believe with a firm faith that Jesus 
is the Son of God, that He is as great a God as 
God the Father or the Holy Ghost ; that He is 
infinitely wise and infinitely mighty; on the other 
hand, we read in the Gospel that Jesus was a real 
child, that He grew in age, in grace, and in wis- 
dom. None of these truths involve a contradic- 
tion; they are indeed beyond our reason, but faith 
comes to our assistance. The interior life of Christ 

152 



THE BOY EO OD OF JESUS. 153 

as a boy was full of the thoughts of God ; the 
exterior was the same as other children's. Bossuet, 
the great preacher, says : " Thou lovely Babe ! 
Happy were they who gazed upon Thee, stretch- 
ing forth Thy arms from out the swaddling-bands, 
lifting up Thy little fingers to caress Thy holy 
Mother. Now upheld by her strong arms adven- 
turing Thy first short steps, now practising Thy 
holy tongue with stammerings of the praise of 
God, Thy Father ! 

" I worship Thee, dear Child, at every stage of 
Thy divine growth ; the while Thou art nursed 
at her pure breast or with wails of infancy dost 
call for her, or repose on her bosom clasped in her 
warm arms." 

Nazareth is in Galilee, a beautiful village on the 
side of a hill; it is said that Palestine has no more 
smiling landscape than this little valley of Naza- 
reth. Antonius, the martyr, compared it to para- 
dise. 

" Can anything of good come from Nazareth ? " 
asked Nathanael of Philip when Our Lord called 
them to the apostleship. Nazareth was an insig- 
nificant place : the last in the world from which 
to expect anything very great. It is certainly 
remarkable that this place, the dearest to the 
Christian heart of all places on earth, except per- 



154 THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 

haps Jerusalem, is not mentioned in the Old Tes- 
tament. It was probably a very small hamlet, 
hidden away in the narrow valley and of no po- 
litical importance. It must, however, ever be a 
spot sacred to the whole Christian world, for here 
our blessed Saviour passed the greater part of His 
life on earth. Here the Child Jesus grew from in- 
fancy to childhood and youth, and in knowledge 
and favor with God and man. Here He spent the 
years of His ripening manhood in humble labors 
and in sinless communion with God. What natu- 
ral desires arise in our mind to lift the veil that 
shrouds this period in impenetrable darkness ! 
The narrow vale, on the side of which the village 
is built, is the same as it was in the time of Our 
Lord. The view from the village is circumscribed, 
but from the summit of the hills could be seen 
the distant sea and many places mentioned in the 
Scriptures. 

All that is known of the child-life of Jesus in 
this place is comprised in the words of St. Luke : 
" The Child grew, and waxed strong, full of wis- 
dom ; and the grace of God was in Him." This is 
the period of the life of Christ in which, while He 
grew like other children, His soul also progressed. 

How are we to understand this interior develop- 
ment of Jesus ? The common feeling is that His 



THE BO YHO OD OF JE8 US. 155 

wisdom and His power declared themselves by de- 
grees, although He possessed them in their pleni- 
tude from His conception. Still we must remembei 
that Our Saviour not only wished to appear as a 
child, but to be a child according to nature. It 
is the law of childhood that as the body develops 
little by little, so the intelligence grows with the 
strength of the body. It is a sacred mystery to 
which we bow with per&ct submission of our 
understanding. Jesus is YrVTyJCrod, the Infinite, 
the All-Knowing and Omnipresent, and yet, cir- 
cumscribed by the narrow limits of a weak human 
form, He is really a child ; He grows in age, in 
grace, and in wisdom. 

Outwardly there was nothing at this time of 
His life to distinguish Jesus from other chil- 
dren : and the child-life of Christ passed se- 
renely in the quiet abode of Nazareth. Here 
He received from Mary and Joseph the simple 
lessons which the law prescribed ; He learned to 
read the Scriptures, heard them explained, and 
apparently learned them, because He was growing 
in age and wisdom. The Scriptures speak of Him, 
they lead and point to Him ; Mary and Joseph 
knew it well, but they never failed in their duty 
of teaching Him and meditating with Him on the 
word of God contained in the Old Testament. 



156 THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 

Perhaps as Jesus enlightened the doctors of the 
law on the prophecies, so also He made His earthly 
guardians aware of the hidden application of them 
to Himself. What great thoughts and ideas did 
this intimate relationship of mind give them ! how 
Mary and Joseph treasured the knowledge in their 
hearts. During these years of sojourn together in 
greatest intimacy they felt a happiness, a consola- 
tion, and a peace that was beyond anything they 
could imagine in store for them through the mercy 
of God. The beatific vision was ever before Jesus, 
He was ever in close union with the eternal Father, 
and Mary especially participated in these flights of 
the soul from this vale of tears. If the saints were 
privileged to a higher union with God, how much 
closer to God were these privileged beings, so inti- 
mate with the Child Jesus on this earth ! He was 
an open-hearted, good, noble boy. We can hardly 
imagine a more agreeable person than such a child. 
How often must He have found it almost impos- 
sible to sink His omnipotence, and let the human 
side predominate when He beheld the misery 
about Him; when He saw the poverty of so many; 
when He saw sickness and death visiting fond 
parents or even His own companions and play- 
fellows ! With the patience and long-suffering of 
a God He permitted these things even though He 



THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 157 

could have averted them ; but, as now, His holy 
providence watching over every one, allowed all to 
happen for their own good. As in His after-life 
we see Jesus working a miracle and forbidding 
the people to speak of it, that it might be kept 
secret, so in His boyhood He worked miracles of 
holy providence in secret. Wherever He went 
He brought blessings and happiness. Like the 
ark that accidentally brought a blessing to the 
house of Obededom, so Jesus was doing good now, 
though the fame of it did not go abroad. " He 
hath done all things well" (Mark vii. 37). 



" 5esu0 Wajefc an& (Brew Strong*" 



The Child Jesus grew in stature, in character, 
in learning, in experience, even in goodness. He 
did. not stand still ; it was remarkable what prog- 
ress He made. Although it is God Himself who 
is revealed to us in the life of Jesus Christ, yet 
this did not prevent Him from being made like 
unto us in all things, sin only excepted. 

Was not Our Lord a little child. 

Taught by degrees to pray; 
By father dear and Mother mild, 

Instructed day by day? 

Jesus grew to be a larger and a stronger boy 
every day ; He made Himself useful as soon as 
the playfulness of childhood had passed. He 
was frequently found in the workshop of St. Jo- 
seph, helping at the work of the day. But you, 
dear children, are daily growing also ; you are 
getting away from childhood, and a more 
serious life is before you : you can now make 

158 



"JESUS WAXED AND GREW STRONG." 159 

yourselves useful ; you must now learn to help 
your parents in many things. We often see boys 
in stores, running on errands, carrying bundles, 
and earning a livelihood ; not getting much for 
their work, but getting a little for their faithful- 
ness and taking it home, like little men, glad that 
they can contribute their share to the support 
of the family. By degrees such boys will be ad- 
vanced in 'the business ; they will learn the vari- 
ous branches of it, and finally, after years, may 
become members of a great firm. This is a phys- 
ical and business growth which is very useful in its 
own way. 

There is another growth, that of the soul, of a 
moral character, where you are no longer a child, 
when you have outgrown the playfulness and 
thoughtlessness of the infant ; you have a growth 
before you and a very important one. You have 
to become a man, you have to grow to a certain 
excellence, so that you may command the respect 
of all you come in contact with. We know that 
a man of sense, of religion, of education, of spirit, 
is respected and has considerable weight with his 
fellow beings : well, that is the very thing you 
must aim at and strive to gain, that you may be 
a worthy member of society. And this growth 5s 
beginning now in your youth and will continue. 



160 "JESUS WAXED AND GREW SI BONG:' 

who knows how long ? at least until you have 
grown into manhood. You are neither an infant 
nor have you arrived at mature sense. The pres- 
ent is an intermediate time which is to be given 
over to growth. Everything is arranged by your 
parents, by the Church, by the school, and by 
every one interested in your welfare, that this 
growth may be healthy and continuous. You 
notice that your parents want you to learn ; that 
in school, books are put into your hands ; and that 
you must learn your prayers and your catechism. 
You are growing now, for all this learning, this 
training, is a growth, and a very important 
growth, because you have to attain such a high 
excellence. You are beginning now to realize your 
existence, you are becoming self-conscious, you feel 
that you are here for a purpose, and that you have 
certain duties to perform ; you begin to feel that 
you are obliged to attend to these duties, You are 
responsible for your acts to God and to man, and 
you may make man interested in you or God a 
friend, according to your conduct. You have the law 
of God to consider; you have, moreover, to consider 
the desires of your parents, and you must respect 
the laws of the land, even though you may not 
know them yet. You can, in short, be a saint, a 
good man, or a bad, useless wreck of a man. You 




JESUS, MODEL OF PURITY. 



"JESUS WAXED AND GREW STRONG." 161 

are no longer an infant, and at the same time you 
are far from the wisdom of age. Consequently, 
though your parents no longer carry you in their 
arms, you have not yet the wisdom of age, and 
need to be shown what you must do. Your parents 
let you walk by yourself, but they tell you which 
way to take. How beautiful is your life if you 
begin it right ! What more beautiful thing is 
there in this world than a good-hearted, generous 
boy, intelligent and willing ? What is there more 
lovely than a happy, smiling, bright girl showing 
respectful affection to all about her ? If there is 
anything that makes this world attractive in cer- 
tain aspects it is to see and come in contact with 
good children. These little people are yet inno- 
cent of the wiles of the world ; they are guileless, 
satisfied, and have little to complain of ; one can 
enjoy their company, which is not always the case 
with older people. You are loved at this age by 
every one. God, especially, loves you. When God 
the Father created you He gave you at the same 
time a guardian angel. So precious are you in His 
sight that to make sure that you do not go astray 
He deputes an angel to look after you. The doc- 
trine of the guardian angel was told you long ago. 
Among the first prayers you said was that to your 
guardian angel, 



162 "JESUS WAXED AND GBEW STRONG." 

Blest spirits of light, 0, ye have not forsaken 
The children of earth and the fallen from bliss. 

Thou still watchest round us, our bosoms awaken 
To thoughts of a world that is brighter than this. 

O, fondly watch o'er us! O, guard and protect us! 
Blest angels, direct us to mansions of bliss. 

Who loves you more than Jesus Our Saviour ? 
The Child Jesus sanctified your station and period 
of life by living it Himself. As yet, however, 
it is a very imperfect life, because it is not 
fully developed ; that only is perfect which is 
fully developed. But Our Lord always remem- 
bered His childhood, and even when He was a 
serious man engaged in the w r ork for which He 
came to this world, when He was preaching the 
new gospel, He still remembered it. There was 
quite a scene once among the apostles. They were 
disputing w r ho was to be the greatest among them; 
there was jealousy and disagreement, and, perhaps, 
hot words about precedence. They all wanted to 
be the first. It was a dispute which must have 
grieved Our Lord very much. But He took a 
child, and placing him in the midst of them, said, 
" Unless you become as little children, you shall 
not enter the kingdom of heaven." So we see that 
even grown people must remain as little children 
if they wish to go to heaven. At another time 



"JESUS WAXED AND GREW STRONG." 163 

Our Lord was caressing little children and playing 
with them, °nd mothers were bringing still other 
children, and sending them toddling along until 
they reached the good Master. The apostles were 
angry about it, and wished to prevent it, for, per- 
haps, they thought Our Lord might be better em- 
ployed than in fondling children. Our good Lord 
turned to them and said, " Suffer the children to 
come to Me and forbid them not, for of such is 
the kingdom of God/ 7 Just because Our Lord 
sanctified childhood, therefore has He merited for 
you the grace to grow as He did in all those beau- 
tiful virtues of which He gives us an example in 
His youth. 

In your youth, too, are you much loved by the 
Third Person of Godhead, the Holy Ghost. You 
are made His holy abode. No sooner were you 
born than you were taken to the church: you were 
a being that belonged first to the Church more 
than anywhere else. In the Church you were 
consecrated to God by the Sacrament of Baptism. 
You were made an heir of the kingdom of God, 
you were made a child of God. Because you 
were a child, you had a right to all that God has. 
You were baptized to show that Jesus Christ the 
Son of God is your brother ; you belong to the 
same family of children of God with Him, and 



164 "JESUS WAXED AND GREW STRONG." 

when you became a Christian, a Catholic, you 
promised to remain faithful to this choice. 

Lastly you were baptized in the name of the 
Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Blessed Trin- 
ity. You were to be the habitation of God ; the 
Father, and die Son, and the Holy Ghost are to 
come to your heart to stay there, and you are to 
love them and allow yourself to be led by their 
inspiration. You must allow nothing but God to 
be the Master of your soul : because the Holy 
Ghost only is to be there by right of possession. 

We understand now how T Jesus grew : He was 
born an infant and His days were spent in God's 
service until His body had grown to its years, 
fit for a sacrifice to God on the cross. You 
know now also, my dear children, that Jesus grew 
in wisdom and grace before God and man; that 
day after day as this divine Youth grew older He 
manifested to men a wisdom which was fitted to 
His age and at the same time astonished them by 
its perfection. Now is the time in your tender 
years, when you bestow your affections so easily, 
to give the Lord your hearts and love Him also 
who has loved you so much. Let the Infant Jesus 
make your hearts flourish with beautiful virtues 
and with the fruits of good actions. Avoid doing 
wrong, do not practise the vices of bad children : 



"JESUS WAXED AND GREW STRONG: 9 165 

for these vices make them abominable before God 
and man. We all dislike bad children and are dis- 
gusted that they have learned vice so very early in 
life: 



Zhc flMets of Josepb an& /IDars* 

We may well imagine that the days of sojourn 
in Nazareth were clays of peace and happiness, un- 
til the Son of man having begun His sacred mis- 
sion at last ascended the heights of Calvary to die 
on the cross. This, according to the Fathers of 
the Church, is the epitome of the infancy of Jesus: 
when two years old He was weaned; at three years 
He walked ; at four, He made the home happy by 
His presence ; at six, He began to speak admira- 
ble words of wisdom, and at seven and eight, He 
rejoiced all by His innocent conduct. It appears 
probable that Our Lord did not dwell alone in that 
quiet home of Nazareth ; He had relatives living 
there or in the neighborhood. How closely they 
were related is not certain ; perhaps they were 
cousins, or it may be their relationship was still 
more distant. We know, however, that in those 
days relations were called brothers ; but whether 
this relationship was near or distant has never 
been well defined. We read in St. Mark (vi. 3) that 
the townspeople pretended to know all about Our 

166 



THE PIETY OF JOSEPH AND MART. 167 

Lord, for they said, " Are not His brethren James, 
Joseph, Simon, and Jude ? And are not His sis- 
ters all here among us ? " 

Among these Our Lord lived ; some of them 
became apostles, as James and Jude ; the former 
was called the Just and the latter Thaddeus, " Man 
of the -heart." These were the most distinguished, 
because they took an active part in the extension 
of the Gospel. But the other relatives, as St. John 
sorrowfully says, did not believe in Him ; they 
even mocked Him, saying, " Pass from hence, and 
go into Judea : that Thy disciples also may see 
Thy works which Thou dost. For there is no man 
that doth anything in secret, and he himself seek- 
eth to be known openly ; if Thou do these things, 
manifest Thyself to the world." These men and 
women had no higher ambition than to enjoy the 
world. When Our Lord began to preach, they 
said, " He is gone mad." No doubt in course of 
time they followed Christ and believed in Him ; 
but at the period of the youth of Our Lord, their 
thoughts were not on His divine mission, they 
were more engrossed by the things of this earth 
than the things of heaven. 

Praise, praise to Jesus, Mary, Joseph, 

The three on earth most like to Thee in heaven! 



168 THE PIETY OF JOSEPH AND MARY. 

Praise, praise to Jesus, Mary, Joseph, 

To whom these heavenly likenesses were given! 
Come, Christians, come, sweet anthems weaving; 
Come, young and old, come, gay or grieving; 
Praise, praise with me, 
Adoring and believing, 
God's Family, God's Holy Family! 

—Rev. F. W. Fabcr 



XTbe 1bol£ Ibouse of %ovetto. 



The house in which, the Holy Family spent so 
many years in Nazareth is indeed a sacred relic ; 
it still exists and is highly prized. There is a 
singular history connected with it, and the facts 
are well authenticated. The Holy House is no 
longer in Nazareth, for in the year 1291 it was 
transported entire, by the ministry of angels, to 
Tersatz on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. At 
that time the house had disappeared from its 
foundations and was found in this town : declara- 
tions are made that angels were seen high up in 
the air carrying a house. In 1295 the angels again 
took up the house and carried it across the waters 
to Loretto, where it now is. The angels them- 
selves seem to consider this house a very precious 
relic, and they are so interested in it that they have 
located it on the spot where it is now. The Holy 
House is not a very large building : it is twenty- 
seven feet long and twelve feet wide; it is of broad, 
thin red brick. It stands now in the centre of a 
beautiful church of the walled town of Loretto : 

169 



170 THE HOLY HOUSE OF LOMETTO. 

as we enter the church there stands before us a 
marble house with rich and artistic carvings 
around it, portraying the life of the Holy Family 
in the various scenes for which we have scriptural 
authority ; this marble house screens the real one 
entirely, so that you cannot see it or touch it. 

But why did not the angels keep this Holy 
House in Xazareth, where it really belongs ? We 
can hardly answer this, except that it showed the 
interest God Himself felt in this Holy House, and 
that it might not be desecrated by unholy hands, 
He had it removed to its present place. It cer- 
tainly required supernatural power to bring it en- 
tire all that way from Nazareth, so many hundred 
miles, to its present position. For in those days 
the sacrilegious Turk was ruling over that coun- 
try : he was destroying sanctuaries and turning 
them into mosques, he was persecuting the Chris- 
tians, of whom many suffered martyrdom. In or- 
der, then, to bring it and keep it forever in a 
Catholic country- God permitted this miracle to be 
wrought. What truth there is in the translation 
of the Holy House to Loretto we will not attempt 
to state, or on what grounds it is believed. This 
we know, that many Pontiffs have believed in the 
miraculous translation, have granted many indul- 
gences to those who make pilgrimages to it, so 



THE HOLY HOUSE OF LOliETTO. 171 

that very many who love the Blessed Virgin think 
themselves happy to go there and pray in that 
house as it is preserved to-day; they can gain plen- 
ary indulgences there, and many miracles have 
been and are continually wrought there. The 
Litany of the Blessed Virgin, which we recite so 
often, had its origin in Loretto. 

The pious pilgrim enters this house with awe 
and reverence and prays fervently, having before 
his eyes the image of the Holy Family who once 
dwelt there. It is asserted that the house rests 
on no foundation, but miraculously hangs in the 
air an inch from the ground, so that you can 
pass an iron ruler under it, if you wish to convince 
yourself that it is not connected with the earth. 
Here also is shown a little earthenware bowl, from 
which Our Lord is said to have taken His food 
and which came with the Holy House. No won- 
der that this little house is held in such great 
veneration, this home where the Child Jesus grew 
up and prepared Himself for His great work ! 



Zhc Deatb of St. Sosepb, 

It is not known when St. Joseph departed this 
life ; probably in the designs of God this event 
took place when Our Lord was able to support 
Himself and His sweet Mother. The history of 
Joseph's death belongs to a time when Jesus was 
no longer a child ; but it finds a very proper place 
here, because it happened before Our Lord's pub- 
lic life. According to tradition, St. Joseph reached 
a very old age ; he was well on in years when he 
espoused the Blessed Virgin, and when his end 
came he felt no infirmity ; his sight failed not, 
no tooth in his mouth decayed. The archangel 
Michael made known to him that his end was ap- 
proaching. To prepare himself for the journey 
out of this world, he visited once more the holy 
Temple in Jerusalem, and prayed that the angel 
Michael would not desert him in his last moments, 
and that his guardian angel would stand by his 
side. When he returned to Nazareth he became 
very ill. Mary begged Our Lord to save St. Jo- 
seph's life, but He answered, " 0, My most loving 

172 



THE DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH 173 

Mother, on all men rests the sentence of death ; 
thou also must expect the same end ; but thy 
death and that of this good and just man is but 
the opening to eternal life ; let us go, dearest 
Mother, and stand by his bedside that thou mayest 
see what happens when his soul goes out from the 
body." Both Mary and Jesus kept watch at St. 
Joseph's side. Our Lord comforted him in his 
dying moments, pointing to heaven where the 
angels were waiting to conduct him to the throne 
of God. Thus with the blessing of Our Lord and 
the supplications of Mary, the soul of Joseph left 
this world. What a happy death ! 

What are we to learn from the life of St. Jo- 
seph ? Evidently great lessons are taught by his 
life of perseverance, humility, obedience, and pru- 
dence ; great virtues, which you, my dear children, 
should learn early. 

We see that steadfast perseverance with which 
St. Joseph endured all the privations and trials of 
his life. We, too, should learn to remain in the 
places and positions in which God has placed us, 
with the firm conviction that God's providence is 
watching over us. Often our imagination and our 
self-love make us resist the will of God ; we would 
rather follow our own will. St. Joseph was with- 
out doubt one of the most perfect men that the 



174 1HE DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH. 

world ever saw, and still almighty God sent him 
many trials; but he bore them nobly, because he 
saw the will of God in all. " Gold and silver are 
tried in the fire ; and the favorites of God are 
tried in the oven of humility." Children should 
learn from St. Joseph unflinching obedience ; it 
is the principal duty of children to do the will of 
their superiors, their parents, teachers, and pas- 
tors. A child becomes doubly beautiful and ami- 
able by the readiness with which he practises 
obedience. You, my dear children, do not obey 
because you like to, but because it is the command 
of God. Our superiors hold the place of God : 
what they command 'on earth God ratifies in 
heaven, and it becomes His will. 

Your rising in the morning, your going to bed 
at night, your school tasks, your prayers, are all 
commanded by your superiors. How often do you 
murmur in executing these precepts ? St. Joseph 
never asked the reason why; willingly and quickly 
he did all that he was told to do, he performed all 
his duties in a most exact manner. 

Let us pray with great fervor to this foster- 
father of Jesus, and take him for our model and 
patron. St. Teresa said that she never asked God 
for anything through St. Joseph without obtain- 
ing the favor. 



THE DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH 175 

Sing we Joseph, spouse of Mary, 

And our Mother's blessed friend; 
Favors countless, mercies constant, 

Thou dost ever to us send. 
We have prayed, and thou hast answered; 

We have asked, and thou hast given. 
Xeed we marvel? Jesus tells us, 

Joseph has the stores of heaven. 
One more favor we will ask thee, 

Thou of all canst grant it best: 
When we die be thou still near us, 

Bring us safe to endless rest. 



TLhe Great (Braces of St* Sosepb's Soul. 

All natural gifts are not to be compared in 
value to one supernatural grace. Great must have 
been the wealth of St. Joseph's soul. Graces 
without number were showered upon him for his 
fidelity to the work to which he was called. 

The first great grace granted to this great saint 
was a virginal purity, by which he was made 
worthy to be the spouse of Mary and the father of 
Our Lord. Purity must surround that which is 
holy ; nothing impure may approach before God. 
So that St. Joseph became a privileged guardian 
angel of the virginity of Our Lady. Instead of 
being an enemy of her eminent holiness he con- 
tributed to it: her virginal purity shines out much 
more decidedly. Not only was he the guardian of 
Mary, but also of Our Lord. St. Joseph was ad- 
mitted to the pure embrace of the Child Jesus. 
" Blessed is the faithful and wise servant, for the 
Lord will place him over all His goods/' When 
Our Saviour traversed the land of Judea, preach- 

176 



GREAT GRACES OF ST. JOSEPH'S SOUL. 177 

ing, it was necessary only to touch the hem of His 
garment to be cured of any disease. This faithful 
servant carried the Child-God about. What in- 
numerable graces, then, must have enriched the 
soul of this holy man from this contact ? In 
Nazareth he was many years in company with 
Jesus and Mary ; he conversed with them, prayed 
with them, shared their joys and their sorrows ; 
every day and every moment he grew in grace and 
in virtue, enjoying without interruption the con- 
templation of Jesus, the Eedeemer of the world. 
The eyes of the eternal Father were upon him, 
Jesus loved him with the affection of a son, our 
blessed Lady revered and obeyed him as one 
who had received authority from God ; the angels 
were devoted to him as being privileged beyond 
any man on earth or even the angels in heaven. 

Let us then honor this saint with our confidence 
and have a great devotion to him. 1. Let us keep 
his life always before our eyes and imitate his 
virtues. 2. Let us every day say some prayer in 
his honor. 3. Let us celebrate his feasts with 
great joy, and not only his feasts, but the whole 
month of March, which the Church devotes to 
him. 4. Let us keep a picture of the saint in our 
room, that we may be reminded to have recourse 
to him in all our necessities. 5. When we go to 



178 GREAT GRACES OF ST JOSEPH'S SOUL. 

communion on his feast, or in fact at any time, let 
ns invite St. Joseph to keep us company, that we 
may be inspired with a love of Our Lord who has 
come into our heart. 



Zhe Wcvotion to tbe flnfant Jesus. 

The devotion to the Infant Jesus has been prac- 
tised by all the saints and is attractive and useful 
to our spiritual life. It is a devotion especially 
adapted to young people, because it teaches the 
virtues which Our Lord practised in His child- 
hood and which must be learned in early life. 

• 

The child is dear to Our Lord ; once when He 
was asked " Who is the greater in the kingdom of 
God ? " He hesitated not an instant ; He did not 
look for the philosopher, nor the priest, nor even 
the apostles who had asked the question, but He 
showed them a little child. The little child is 
then in the mind of Our Lord the most beautiful 
object on earth or in heaven. Why ? Because 
the love of Our Lord resides in that pure heart. 
Why not, then, early inform the child of God's 
predilection for it? Make the child give Our Lord 
great love in return, and impress on its mind a de- 
votion to the sweet Infant Jesus, 

We become by Baptism the branches of the 
heavenly vine Jesus, w T e are one with Him. He is 

179 



180 THE DEVOTION TO THE INFANT JESUS. 

the centre of our souls and we should be firmly 
united to Him. 

St. Teresa, the foundress of the Eeformed Car- 
melites, always carried about her a little statue 
of the Infant Jesus, and on her travels she would 
exhibit the little figure and the nuns would make 
their devotions before it. So great was their devo- 
tion and recollection that they appeared as though 
they were in their quiet cloister. It is related that 
on one occasion St. Teresa met on the stairs a 
beautiful child ; surprised, Teresa asked, " Where 
did you come from, my dear little child ? who are 
you ? " And the little one answered, " I will 
answer you when you have told me who you 
are." Teresa said, " I am Sister Teresa of Jesus/' 
and the Infant replied, " I am Jesus of Sister 
Teresa/' and suddenly disappeared. 

The venerable Mother Ann of Jesus, sub-prior- 
ess under Teresa, also had a great devotion to the 
Child Jesus ; one day she received a little statue 
of the Infant Jesus, which she placed on the altar 
in the novitiate, and the simple devotion of one 
of the novices is thus told. " Every day I carried 
a bunch of flowers to the Infant Jesus, and I made 
the bouquet up in this wise : I put in some red 
flowers to express my desire for suffering and to 
do that which was hardest in community life ; I 



THE DEVOTION TO THE INFANT JESUS. 181 

placed some white flowers in it to show my love 
of purity, and that the love of God would precede 
every other attachment ; I put in some yellow 
flowers to signify that I deeply regretted the 
offences against almighty God ; some blue flow- 
ers were there too, representing my tears for the 
conversion of sinners. Whenever I came with that 
bouquet, the divine Infant took it from my hand, 
and offered it to His eternal Father." 




Ube /flMraculous Statue ot tbe Unfant of 

Prague. 

You have heard, my dear children, of the miracu- 
lous statue of the Infant of Prague; would it not be 
well in your devotions to take this as the symbol 
of your love for the Christ-Child, to make the little 
statue of the Infant of Prague a sensible, tangible 
means to keep the devotion alive in your prac- 
tices of piety to the Infant Jesus ? You will cer- 
tainly do so when you know its history, which is 
as follows : In 1628 Ferdinand II., emperor of 
Germany, founded a monastery of Discalced Car- 
melites in the city of Prague, the capital of Bo- 
hemia. After the erection of the monastery, the 
Princess Polyxene brought the Fathers a statue of 
the Infant Jesus, about a foot and a half high ; 
it represented the Infant Jesus standing, His right 
hand raised in benediction and in the left hand 
a golden globe, an image of the world. The face 
of the statue was very sweet and gracious; the 
dress and little cope was of gold, the work of the 
princess herself. In making the present, she said, 
" I give you, my dear Fathers, what I prize very 

182 



THE MIRACULOUS INFANT OF PRAGUE. 183 

highly ; honor this statue, and you will want for 
nothing." 

The promise was verified to the letter. G-od 
showered His blessings on the monastery. These 
sons of St. Teresa placed the little statue in their 
oratory, where it became at once the object of their 
devotion, love, and confidence. 

In 1681, a hostile army took possession of 
Prague, the hands of the statue were broken off, 
and the statue itself was thrown into a pile of rub- 
bish. Here it lay for seven years, when it was dis- 
covered by Father Cyril, but on account of its 
dress he did not notice that the hands of the In- 
fant were gone. One day as he was praying before 
the statue, he seemed to hear these words, " Have 
compassion on me and I will have compassion on 
you ; give me back my hands which have been 
broken off, and I will give you sweet consolation 
and peace ; the more you honor me, the more 
graces will you receive." The priest was so poor 
that he could not defray the necessary expense to 
repair the statue, and he begged the Infant to send 
some kind soul, who would pay for the work ; then 
the voice said, " Place me at the entrance to the 
sacristy, and some one will see me thus maimed, 
and will have compassion on me." Soon a rich 
man offered to restore the figure, and the Infant 



184 THE MIRACULOUS INFANT OF PRAGUE. 

Jesus richly rewarded him for his good deed. In 
1638, the Blessed Virgin indicated the spot where 
the statue was to be permanently kept. Afterward 
a magnificent altar was built and the statue was 
placed in the tabernacle. Count Bernard, marquis 
of Bohemia, presented a handsome crown to the 
Infant of Prague ; it was of gold covered with 
precious stones, and was placed on the head of 
the statue by the Archbishop of Prague, who at 
the end of the ceremony publicly kissed the feet 
of the little statue ; after him followed the whole 
court. Up to the time of which we are speaking 
the Carmelites were the only ones who paid hom- 
age to the sacred image. In order to extend the 
devotion to the outside world, a chapel was built 
near the church, and in 1655 the Infant Jesus was 
carried there. 

This little statue has been seen to change the 
expression of its face : sometimes it looks sweet, 
and at other times severe. The following incident 
is sworn to as true. A man, careless and indiffer- 
ent about his religion, went to the chapel out of 
curiosity. Having heard so much of the Infant 
Jesus of Prague he looked at the statue, but he 
only saw the robe of the Child, the face and hands 
he could not see ; this made him think of himself 
and he said, " I must go to confession. I am sure 




JESUS, MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 



THE MIRACULOUS INFANT OF PRAGUE. 185 

that is the reason why I do not see the Infant 
Jesus/' He went to confession and with great sor- 
row confessed his sins. When he came back he 
could see clearly the lovely face of the Infant 
Jesus, but soon it was covered again. " What is 
the reason of this disappearance ? " he asked him- 
self ; and examining his conscience he found that 
in his haste to confess he had forgotten a very 
important thing. He again sought his confessor 
and after unburdening his conscience, the statue 
was revealed to him perfectly. 

Once a thief wished to steal the rich vestments 
and precious stones of the statue ; scarcely had 
he laid hold of them when he felt that he could 
not stir hand or foot; he was so frightened that 
the cold perspiration rolled off his pale face ; he 
realized that God had thwarted his base designs. 
Filled with remorse, he prayed fervently and 
promised that he would lead a good life thence- 
forward. Immediately his strength returned, and 
he went directly to the Carmelite Fathers, to 
whom he related the fact. 

The renown of this little statue spread far and 
wide, because many miracles were wrought by it. 
Every petition made to the Infant Jesus, if it were 
at all according to the will of God, was granted in 
all cases. From all parts of the world came letters 



186 THE MIRACULOUS INFANT OF PRAGUE, 

begging for images of this holy Infant. They are 
made exactly like the original, are blessed by the 
Carmelite Fathers, and touched to the miraculous 
image. With the blessing go also the favors at- 
tributed to the original statue, as well as the prom- 
ises made for it. It seems to be a fact that wher- 
ever the statue of the Infant of Prague is honored 
and kept, there too rests the blessing of God ; 
God's graces in abundance, God's powerful protec- 
tion. 

In schools the devotion is loved by the children, 
and can be easily introduced for their spiritual 
benefit ; they prize the little statue and pictures 
very much, and soon learn to have confidence in 
the kindness of the sweet Infant Jesus. The 
teacher, too, will find the devotion useful, for she 
can often refer to the Child Christ, and picture 
to the little ones how He practised a particular 
virtue ; for example, silence, love of others, kind- 
ness to every one, love of truth and honesty, etc., 
etc. 

The following prayer by Father Cyril to the 
Infant Jesus of Prague, is very beautiful, and you, 
my dear children, should repeat it often : 

Jesus! unto Thee I flee, 

Through Thy Mother praying Thee 



THE MIRACULOUS INFANT OF PRAGUE, 187 

In my need to succor me. 

Truly, I believe of Thee 

God Thou art with strength to shield me; 

Full of trust I hope in Thee, 

Thou Thy grace wilt give to me; 

All my heart I give to Thee, 

Therefore of my sins repent me; 

From them breaking, I beseech Thee, 

Jesus! from their bonds to free me. 

Firm my purpose is to mend me, 

Never more will I grieve Thee. 

Wholly unto Thee I give me, 

Patiently to suffer for Thee, 

Thee to serve eternally, 

And my neighbor like to me 

I will love, for love of Thee. 

Little Jesus, I beseech Thee 

In my need to succor me, 

That one day I may enjoy Thee, 

Safe with Joseph, and with Mary, 

And angels all, eternally. 






Ube Cbxlb Jesus as OoZ>. 

My dear children, whose life have you been 
reading ? Who is this wonderful Child whom we 
have adored with the shepherds and the Magi ? It 
is the great God, the Second Person of the Blessed 
Trinity, who became man : it is the Son of God 
whom we acknowledge when in making the sign 
of the cross, we say, " In the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Th"s 
Second Person, the Son of God, the eternal Word, 
who proceeds from the Father, became man. 
Therefore He was a Man-God, and though a weak 
Infant, unable to walk, to talk, or to defend Him- 
self against the machinations of His enemies, still 
He was the God of heaven, all-powerful and all- 
wise. Or when we see Him a boy : good-hearted, 
noble, and generous, yet not working miracles as 
He did during His ministry ; still He is God and 
could do wonderful things if He wished. Again, 
when we contemplate Him in His agony, dying in 
disgrace on the cross between two thieves, who 
were executed with Him, we would exclaim with 

188 



THE CHILD JESUS AS GOD. 189 

the centurion, "Indeed this man was the Son of 
God." This is the same person who three days 
after His death rose glorious and immortal. We 
say in the Athanasian Creed, " This is the true 
faith, that we should believe and confess that Our 
Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man ; He is 
God begotten from the substance of His Father 
before the ages, and man made from the substance 
of His Mother and born in time/' 

See the sweet little Infant Jesus held out tow- 
ards you by His blessed Mother ; He smiles on 
you because you love Him, and because you wish 
to be good : what does all this endearment mean, 
except the love of God for us ? That Heart of 
Jesus invites us to come to Him. He is our rightful 
Master, because He is our God ; and oh, what a 
kind and tender Master we would find in Him, if 
we would go to Him ! This little Child is with 
the Father and the Holy Ghost, the one true God 
in heaven, undivided from the Blessed Trinity, 
and on earth, in the form of a babe. The Child 
Jesus is the centre of all the works of God, because 
from Him have emanated all creatures; angels and 
men, the universe, the earth, and all things have 
come forth at His command, and are bound to 
Him by being preserved in existence by His will. 
How great a child He is then that has done such 



190 THE CHILD JESUS AS GOD. 

wonderful things ; for there is no power, save the 
omnipotence of God alone, that can create ! 

In Jesus there are two natures : the divine, 
which always was and which is the nature of God, 
and the human, which He took from the Blessed 
Virgin Mary ; but there is but one person, the 
sacred person of Jesus Christ, and it is because 
there is only one person in Jesus that Mary is the 
true Mother of God. Therefore, Mary is indeed 
worthy of our love, our respect, and our honor, 
because she has given us the sacred humanity of 
Jesus. As Mary sits enthroned on the humble 
rock in the cave of Bethlehem, holding towards us 
the Infant Jesus, she is greater than the arch- 
angels who are supposed to be the highest crea- 
tures of God's powder, because she is their queen. 
We can go to her with great confidence, and we 
should love her, too, for she is so good, so affable, 
so kind, and so loving. 

Furthermore there are other signs of the divin- 
ity of this Child Jesus : in His subsequent life He 
had to announce Himself and to declare Himself, 
and He did so ; He always maintained that He 
was the Son of God ; the Jews crucified Him be- 
cause He said He was the Son of God, and they 
said He blasphemed, and He undoubtedly w T ould 
have been guilty of blasphemy had He not been 



THE CHILD JESUS AS GOD. 191 

really and truly the Son of God. St. Peter was 
asked by Our Lord Himself, " Whom do you say 
that I am?" and Peter answered, " Thou art 
Christ, the Son of the living God." The centurion 
who pierced with a lance the side of Our Lord 
hanging on the cross, when he saw the dreadful 
things that happened, the darkness that spread 
over the world, the spirits of departed men going 
about, the earthquakes that rent the rocks, said, 
" Indeed, this man was the Son of God." 

God the Father spoke twice in an audible voice : 
once at Christ's baptism and again at His trans- 
figuration on Mount Thabor, " This is. My beloved 
Son in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." 

After his conversion, Paul, the persecutor of 
Our Lord, said openly before the Jews, that Jesus 
was over all things, God: blessed forever, in whom 
dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead corporally : 
that every knee should bow before Him in heaven, 
on earth, and in hell. 

"Jesus Christ judges as a God, punishes as a 
God, rewards as a God, exacts obedience as a God, 
and claims our love above all things. The divinity 
of Christ is the corner-stone of our faith, our 
Christianity, of our holy Mother the Church. In 
Him is centred all our hope and confidence for our 
future glory, He is the object of our love and 



192 THE CHILD JESUS AS GOD. 

adoration in the humble crib, in His glorious life, 
in His death on the cross, in the Blessed Sacra- 
ment on our altars, and sitting in heaven at the 
right hand of God the Father" (Card. Gibbons). 

Oft as Thee, my Infant Saviour, 

In Thy Mother's arms I view, 
Straight a thousand thrilling raptures 

Overflow my heart anew. 

Happy Babe! and happy Mother! 

Oh, how great your bliss must be! 
Each enfolded in the other, 

Sipping pure felicity! 

Lowly Jesus! gentle Brother, 
How I wish a smile from Thee, 

Meant for Thy immortal Mother, 
Only might alight on me ! 

— Edward CaswalL 





^>^i^^y f ^mm-:4 : .W^ i(r ^^^ j^jj 





Qhe Sacrefc Ibeart of tbe flnfant Jesus* 

There is one great devotion to Onr Lord of 
which children' should think and which they 
should practise. Among Catholics there is the de- 
votion to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, that has 
reference not only to Him in His public life, but 
all through His lifetime. We admire the goodness 
of the Heart of Our Lord in His public career, for 
He never passed human misery without relieving 
it ; He never saw infirmity without His kind 
Heart being impelled to cure it. He loved human- 
ity to such a degree that He said, " My delight is 
to be with the children of men." His Heart was 
the same when He was a child, and His words : 
" Suffer the little children to come unto Me, for 
of such is the kingdom of God," apply to Him as 
a child as well as when He was grown to man's 
estate, for as a child He loved children and never 
so enjoyed His childhood games and sports as 
when with other children. So it is with the Child 
Jesus. His Heart is ever open to receive little 
ones, and we are sure to please Him when we adore 

193 



194 SACRED HEART OF THE INFANT JESUS. 

and love His infant Heart. You can, therefore, 
my dear little children, do as older people do, and 
practise a simple devotion to the Sacred Heart 
of the Infant Jesus. 

There was a good and very pious nun, the 
Blessed Margaret Mary, at Paray-le-Monial, in 
France, to whom Our Lord appeared and said, 
" Behold, this Heart which has so loved men that 
it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and con- 
suming itself, in order to testify its love. In re- 
turn, I receive from the greater part only ingrati- 
tude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the 
coldness and contempt they have for Me in this 
sacrament of love. And what is most painful to 
Me," added Our Saviour in a tone that went to 
the Sister's heart, " is that they are hearts conse- 
crated to Me." Then He commanded her to have 
established in the Church a particular feast to 
honor His Sacred Heart. " It is for this reason 
that I ask thee that the first Friday after the oc- 
tave of the Blessed Sacrament be appropriated to 
a special feast, to honor My Heart by communi- 
cating on that day, and making reparation for the 
indignity that it has received. And I promise that 
My Heart shall dilate to pour out abundantly the 
influences of its love on all that will render it this 
honor, or procure its being rendered." 



SACRED HEART OF THE INFANT JESUS. 195 

Though some children may not have made their 
first communion and hence cannot receive the 
Blessed Eucharist, still they can practise a part of 
the devotion. They can make the morning offer- 
ing, they can say their little decade of the rosary, 
they can be present at the exposition of the Blessed 
Sacrament and adore Jesus there. 

Through the zeal of the good Jesuit Fathers the 
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been ex- 
tended to the schools and a little league called 
the Apostleship of Study has been formed to bring 
children to a knowledge of the Heart of Jesus, and 
to give them the opportunity of approaching more 
closely the Sacred Heart of Our Lord. The object 
and aim of the league in schools is to cultivate 
in the hearts of our children a love for the Pope, 
and a love for the Church, to be shown by an 
aversion to secret societies; a love for our holy 
religion, to be shown by frequent approach to the 
sacraments; finally, a love for that study and train- 
ing which are to make the pupils of Catholic 
schools ornaments to their religion and country, 
and benefactors to their people. It is wonderful 
how children appreciate this little confidence in 
their power of doing some good. In order to con- 
secrate school life in a special way to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus, members of the Apostleship of 



196 SACRED HEART OF THE INFANT JESUS. 

Study should offer every day : 1. An hour of 
study; 2. An hour of silence; 3. An hour of rec- 
reation : the three chief duties of a school-day. 

By this consecration of school-life to the Heart 
of Jesus, the ordinary routine of the classroom 
and playground may be offered like a prayer, 
either to intercede for the welfare of the Sovereign 
Pontiff, or to thank God for His consolations and 
triumphs. 







L^LtH* 




Wfflg^i^ ^-^vst^a 








H 






3 


^^^S AD CTU Syi|i§W 




1 


sybils 

1 



Ube Cbilfc Jesus in tbe Blessed Sacra* 

ment 

We think, my dear children, that since Jesus 
has gone from us, we have no opportunity of per- 
sonally showing our respect, our love, and our 
gratitude to Him. We say to ourselves, Jesus as- 
cended into heaven on Ascension Day, and sits at 
the right hand of God the Father, and we cannot 
reach Him, except as we reach the saints, by our 
prayers. But the Lord Jesus is not gone out of 
this world ; He did not go back to the Father 
leaving us alone. No ; He is here amongst us in 
the adorable Sacrament of the Altar as really and 
as truly as when He was on earth. This is what 
the Church teaches. Now let us see what is to be 
believed as regards Christ's presence, and what is 
the consequence of this belief. 

The Church teaches that Jesus is present in the 
Holy Eucharist, really and truly, that His body 
and soul as well as His divinity are there under the 
form of bread and wine. It is therefore a part of 
our faith that Jesus is present with us, that we can 
go to Him, visit Him, and love Him ; He is not 

197 



198 JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. 

a dead Lord, but a living God, and we can have a 
personal interview with Him. My dear children, 
early in life we are taught this truth, but how 
little do we realize it ! What should be the conse- 
quence of believing that Jesus Christ is present on 
our altars ? I should think if we were thoroughly 
and intimately persuaded of it our churches would 
be considered privileged places, they would never 
be empty, we would go there for every necessity, 
because we know that there we could obtain all we 
need from the sweet Heart of Jesus ; we would 
stay in church, thinking of Jesus, adoring Him 
and loving Him ; we would bring to our altars all 
that we have, even the most precious ; we would 
have churches as magnificent as kings' palaces, and 
altars of gold and precious stones ; we would have 
a number of candles constantly burning to show 
our faith and attention to Our Lord, nor would we 
wish to tear ourselves from Him. There on the 
altar is the throne of God, as we read it described 
in the Apocalypse, when St. John was called to 
look at the wonderful vision of the reality of 
heaven. 

" There was a throne set in heaven, and upon 
the throne One sitting. And He that sat, was to 
the sight like the jasper and the sardine-stone: and 
there was a rainbow round about the throne, in 



JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. 199 

sight like unto an emerald. And round about the 
throne were four and twenty seats : and upon 
the seats four and twenty ancients sitting, clothed 
in white garments, and on their heads were 
crowns of gold : And from the throne proceeded 
lightnings, and voices, and thunders : and there 
were seven lamps burning before the throne, which 
are the seven spirits of God. And in the sight 
of the throne was as it were a sea of glass like 
to crystal : and the four and twenty ancients 
fell down before Him that sitteth on the throne, 
and adored Him that liveth forever and ever, 
and cast their crowns before the throne, saying : 
Thou art worthy, Lord our God, to receive 
glory and honor and power : because Thou hast 
created all things, and for Thy will they were, 
and have been created." 

Such is the invisible throne of Jesus on the al- 
tar, where Our Saviour is hidden under the veil 
of bread and wine. Jesus hides His majesty, for 
we are not yet ready for the glory of heaven which 
was seen by St. John. Jesus in the Holy Eucha- 
rist is surrounded by the same grandeur as He is 
in heaven. In that wonderful sacrament we have 
the Child Jesus always amongst us ; we are on our 
knees before the Infant God, when we kneel be- 
fore His tabernacle ; we are at the feet of the same 



200 J2B8V& IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. 

Infant God who lay in Mary's arms on that first 
Christmas night ; the same eyes are looking at us, 
with a smile of welcome lighting up His face. Oh, 
what happiness ! Why need we envy the shep- 
herds and Magi ? We are as blessed as they were. 
We see Him, we adore Him, we can receive Him 
as fully and as entirely as they saw Him in the 
mystery of His incarnation in that poor cave. The 
priest stands guard over the Lord Jesus in the 
Holy Eucharist ; he presents Him to us in holy 
communion, carries Him to us in the Viaticum, 
and blesses us with Him in benediction. 

The light which burns day and night before the 
Blessed Sacrament is like a star which shines for 
us as the Star of Bethlehem did for the Magi, in- 
viting us to come to the altar and adore the Lord 
God ; that light speaks to us and tells us that the 
divine Infant is to be found in that lowly taber- 
nacle ; it indicates the very spot and twinkles to 
us a welcome at that throne. How respectful, my 
dear children, you ought to be in church in the 
presence of Our Lord ; there you ought to pray 
and fix your mind on God ; you should not look 
about you at the people, nor should you talk to 
your companions. Like the angels you should be 
attentive to God's presence, for so impressed are 
they with a knowledge of God's greatness that they 



JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. 201 

are continually in profound adoration before Him. 
There is no greater treasure than the divine Child 
in the Blessed Sacrament. Our entire religious 
life without the Blessed Sacrament would be an 
empty shell. In every church the most conspicu- 
ous object is the altar on which the holy sacrifice 
is offered, and where the Blessed Sacrament is kept. 
Let us cherish a constant and a fervent desire for 
this great and sublime mystery, and let us culti- 
vate, with a meek and humble heart, a better 
knowledge and a greater love of the divine Child 
in the Most Blessed Sacrament. 

Sweet Jesus! by this Sacrament of Love 

All gross affections from my heart remove; 

Let but Thy loving-kindness linger there, 

Preserved by grace and perfected by prayer; 

And let me to my neighbor strive to be 

As mild and gentle as Thou art with me. 

Take Thou the guidance of my whole career, 

That to displease Thee be my only fear; 

Give me that peace the world can never give, 

And in Thy loving presence let me live. 

Ah! show me always, Lord, Thy holy will, 

And to each troubled thought say, " Peace, be still! " 



Ube Gbilfc Hsns in tbe fbearts of Xittle 

®nes. 

The divine Infant should be in our souls by our 
love of Jesus, by our devotion to Our Lord, and by 
the virtues of humility and poverty which we 
should continue to practise until this life is over 
and we depart to the other world in the company 
of Jesus. With what a great desire Our Lord 
wished to be born in our hearts ! the whole in- 
tention of Christ's incarnation was to be born in 
us. By the sacraments of the Church this is real- 
ized and perpetuated. In Baptism, the sacrament 
of infancy, the sacrament at the beginning of the 
spiritual life, Our Lord is first born in our heart ; 
He makes it His habitation. By the presence of 
God a character is impressed on that soul, it is 
made the temple of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord 
was there and is there, as Jacob said when he had 
those sublime visions in the desert, and went and 
consecrated a stone to mark the sacred place. It 
is the same with our souls: they have been visited 
by God, who has consecrated them as His temples, 
and has placed His seal upon them. We are by 

202 



JESUS IN THE HEARTS OF LITTLE ONES. 203 

Baptism branches of the great vine, Jesus Our 
Lord ; we are one with Him ; He is the root and 
trunk and we are the shoots engrafted upon it. 
My dear little children, what wonderful creatures 
you are, for your bodies are the sanctuaries of the 
Holy of holies in which only God should be en- 
throned, in which the King of angels should dwell. 
We can drive out God from that soul and put the 
devil in His place ; but what an exchange that 
would be ! the devil in hell should never have 
power over us ; that is the reason that only God 
can live in the soul of a Christian ; if any other 
master obtain possession of it, it is a desecration 
of the temple of God. 

Let us reproduce in our he-arts the life of Christ; 
the young come nearest to the life which Jesus led 
and which He desires us to lead. The life of Christ 
must be reproduced in innumerable ways ; it must 
be reproduced in the heart of every child as it 
plays on the street, studies in school, obeys its 
mother in the home, prays, and adores God in 
church. That life of Christ should be reproduced 
by the merchant in doing justice to all ; keeping 
God before His eyes ; using the world as if he were 
not using it ; poor in spirit, yet laboring to gather 
riches ; with charity for the poor, generosity to 
the Church, and so continuing his Christ-like life 



204 JESUS IN THE HEARTS OF LITTLE ONES. 

until he is called to his eternal reward. This life 
has to be reproduced in the father and mother of 
the family, in the son and daughter, in all souls 
that live in this world ; as Faber says : " Then 
the life of a good Christian is like a grand heavenly 
recitation, which Providence itself pronounces as 
the years go on with a sort of dramatic silence. 
Each single human life in the world amounts to 
nothing less than a private revelation of God, but 
when a man is living in a state of grace, this life 
becomes still more wonderful because it is super- 
natural." 

Dear Jesus, keep us in Thy Heart! 

Take our cold hearts away, 
Or make our hearts more like to Thine, 

More pure and meek each day. 
Ah! yes, e'en in this sinful world 

This is the better part: 
What shall it be when safe for aye, 

Lord, in Thy Sacred Heart? 



Jesus tbe /IDoDel of purity 

God, my dear children, is sanctity itself. What- 
ever is the purest and noblest is in comparison to 
His splendor as insignificant as the shadow is to 
the light of the sun. The bright angels and the 
purified saints feel the splendor and immensity of 
God so much that their continual song is u Holy, 
holy, holy is the Lord our God. The heavens and 
the earth are full of His glory." 

Jesus Christ, the only Son of God the Father, is 
perfectly equal to Him in sanctity, only He low- 
ered Himself to become man and to expiate our 
sins ; He too must be pure and free from sin as 
regards His body. He knew sin only as far as He 
wished to atone for it. When the Jews were per- 
secuting Him and accusing Him, He could frankly 
ask them, u Which of you can convict Me of sin ? " 
At your age, my dear children, the good Infant 
Jesus hid his inimitable sanctity in the holy house 
of Nazareth and under a humble exterior. We 
know from the few words of the Gospel that all 

205 



206 JESUS THE MODEL OF PURITY. 

were struck with the growth of this Youth in 
the wisdom of God. Yes, indeed, this Child 
was the object of the happiness of God the 
Father ; He was the Temple of the Holy Trinity 
in its literal sense. All who came in contact with 
Him no doubt felt themselves purified by His pres- 
ence; they felt that they were so inferior to this 
Child in sanctity they naturally searched their 
hearts to find their defects and so to correct them- 
selves. 

Jesus in His childhood had none of the defects 
of which youth in general is guilty ; nothing of 
that pride or sensuality so often seen in young 
men; no caprices or stubbornness; no seeking for 
comfort or satisfaction of the appetites ; He never 
got angry and played cruel tricks. The sanctity 
of Christ at this time of His life must have shone 
forth so distinctly and at the same time so inde- 
scribably that all would be struck by it and still 
would not be able to say that it made Him singu- 
lar ; He was indeed the most beautiful of the 
children of men. His forehead shines with a bright 
halo, His eyes, habitually cast down in modesty, 
frequently light up with a supernatural brightness 
and kindness. About His lips plays a smile which 
at once consoles and attracts. His clothes are sim- 
ple, but neat and becoming; everything about this 



JESUS THE MODEL OF PURITY, 207 

holy Youth inspires the love of virtue and all be- 
come better for being near Him. 

This very goodness and graciousness will be ap- 
parent also in those young people who try to imi- 
tate Our Lord in His youth : for that holy exam- 
ple will show itself in their every act. 

Once a pious youth having served at the altar, 
and his clothes smelling of incense, said to his 
mother, " Do I not smell as if I had been with 
the good God ? " That is what we understand 
when we hear that people are the odor of Jesus 
Christ ; it issues from the heart of a well-disposed 
Christian, and its edifying effect spreads among 
those who come in contact with it. 

Confide the precious treasure of innocence to the 
Child Jesus and co-operate with the grace given 
you to preserve it from all profanation. Hide, as 
did your Child-Master, your sanctity in the interior 
of your house, in the house of God ; do not expose 
it to the chance of being damaged by the devil 
or the evil example of a wicked world. Open not 
your eyes to the vanities of the world nor to the 
scandals in it. Forget not that you are continually 
under the eye of God ; often call on Him to assist 
you in this struggle. Your body and your soul 
belong to God, because they have been consecrated 
to Him in baptism : let no one claim anything of 



208 JESUS THE MODEL OF PURITY. 

GocPs property ; you are more precious and more 
holy than the golden vessels of the altar which 
only the priest should touch. 

According to the example of the Child Jesus 
remain always under the guardianship of Mary 
immaculate and of St. Joseph the father and pro- 
tector of virgins. Be one of those who belong to 
the ranks of the pure, virginal Christian youth. 
How beautiful is the chaste generation of hearts 
where virtue reigns ; that virtue is undying, God 
preserves it, the angels venerate it, and man is 
justly proud of it. 

That beautiful virtue of purity finds a congenial 
soil in the deep valley of retirement ; there it 
grows under the helping grace of heaven ; some 
time it will be transplanted to the garden of God 
in paradise, where it will flourish for all eternity. 
The Child Jesus is the immaculate lily, and He 
invites us to love that spot where the lilies grow, 
for He tells us that He rejoices to walk among the 
lilies. You will be received under His white ban- 
ner only if you are dressed in purest white, for you 
have preserved your innocence. Purity is then a 
most inestimable treasure. When a good Catholic 
youth is pure, Jesus Christ wants that youth for 
His friend and companion. Once when St. Stanis- 
laus Kostka was lying on his sick-bed Mary 




JESUS.. GENTLE AS A DOVE. 



JE8U8 THE MODEL OF PURITY. 209 

brought her divine Son, as a little child, and 
placed Him in his arms, and Jesus was glad to 
remain an instant on the bosom of this saint. 
Our. Lord fills with generous gifts of grace that 
young person who is in a state of grace and 
destines him for great things to His honor in 
this world. Even the wickedest worldlings are 
forced to acknowledge that the young man who 
can preserve his purity is an excellent young 
man and there is nothing in all the gay world 
to compare with him. This is certain, that a 
youth who reaches twenty or twenty-one and has 
not lost his purity is the most generous, the best, 
the most attractive, the most amiable person. The 
Church does not hesitate to say that a young man 
who is virtuous is an angel. In pictures we see a 
lily in the hands of St. Stanislaus, John Berchmans, 
and Aloysius Gonzaga, and these the Church calls 
angelic youths. But if the lily is the most beau- 
tiful of flowers, it is also a most delicate one. In 
order to bring it to its greatest glory it must be 
looked after carefully and be preserved from every 
rough treatment, away from dirt and dust ; it 
grows best far from the high-road, near the bor- 
ders of a stream, surrounded by thorns. Your 
soul, my dear children, ornamented with purity 
and holiness by Baptism, needs just as much care 



210 JESUS THE MODEL OF PURITY. 

as a beautiful lily. Keep your soul constantly in 
the presence of God by fervent prayer : then she 
will be out of the reach of the mud of the highway. 
Shut your eyes to all evil curiosity : guard your 
looks. Many is the youth that has fallen from 
grace by careless looks. St. Aloysius Gonzaga 
never raised his eyes to a woman, not even to his 
mother: St. Berchmans was so modest that no one 
could ever detect him in a fault of the eyes. 

Abhor all intimacy that leads to sin, every evil 
word, or word of double meaning. St. Stanislaus 
actually fainted when an impure word was uttered 
in his presence. When St. Berchmans came among 
his companions, they said at once, " Here is the 
angel," and their conversation, if bad, was dropped 
at once. All the young saints of whom we know 
confided their purity to the Blessed Virgin by fre- 
quent communions. In the Holy Eucharist are 
found all the means to defend our soul against 
every temptation ; it is the bread of angels and 
the wine that begets virgins. A young man leav- 
ing the service of a man where many scandalous 
things were going on, said to his confessor : " I 
was really bad at first, but since I go frequently 
to holy communion I do not even feel tempta- 
tions : and when these temptations were thrust on 



JESUS THE MODEL OF PURITY. 211 

me at my place of business I became so disgusted 
that I left it." 

You certainly wish to be pure, my dear chil- 
dren ; go then frequently to the banquet of the 
angels ; you will obtain your wish to remain pure, 
to hate impurity, and to fly every occasion of a 
temptation. You will feel a disgust at this filthy 
vice of impurity and will hate the "olace where it 
is practised. 



Jesus at prayer. 



a 



The continual prayer of a just man availeth 
much" (James v. 16). 

The first duty of youth is to love God and to 
learn to be submissive to His law. We all are 
servants of God, or at least that is our natural 
condition, and we wo aid love Him if we were in 
the state in which God intended us to be, but 
from which we strayed by the sin of our first 
parents. The first and principal duty of every 
Christian is to hold himself firmly in that condi- 
tion ; nothing will do it for him but prayer ; 
prayer raises our souls towards heaven from the 
things of this world. 

By our depraved nature we have been led into 
sin. The mission of Jesus Our Lord on this earth 
was to re-establish our natural relations with God; 
from His Sacred Heart there arose constantly the 
incense of prayer to His Father. The Child Jesus 
had His hours of prayer, and Mary and Joseph 
joined in fervor with Hiin. 

What a beautiful picture is that of the Child 



JESUS AT PRATER. 213 

Jesus in prayer ! A God-man, a child praying for 
us. His body is on earth, but His soul is in heaven 
in prayer. 

The divine Child is prostrated before the divine 
majesty of His heavenly Father. Sometimes His 
hands are joined, His eyes cast down, His head in- 
clined; He humbles Himself. At times tears course 
down His cheeks to obtain pardon for our sins ; 
at times His arms are extended towards heaven 
and His eyes raised. Joseph and Mary are rapt 
in ecstasy; the angels, invisible to the eyes of men, 
unite with them. This same, my dear children, 
you also must do. Go on your knees, join your 
hands, shut your eyes to the world, and pray with 
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. 

When St. Aloysius Gonzaga was a child he could 
pray for a full hour without a distraction. We 
should pray in the same manner. We can do it 
by asking the favor of God's grace. 

The Child Jesus never lost sight of His heavenly 
Father ; He walked continually in His presence. 
Even at His work His soul was in constant com- 
munion with heaven. His first thoughts at waking 
were sanctified by directing them to God, and at 
night He fell asleep with the thought of God on 
His mind. 

Do we send up our first thoughts to God who 



214 JESUS AT PRATER. 

has preserved us during the night and given us 
another day ? Do we place our whole being in 
the hands of God before retiring, and when the 
striking of the clock reminds us that we are ap- 
proaching eternity ? Do we pray before and after 
our meals, our studies, our recreations, and the 
various exercises of the day ? And yet constant 
prayer is necessary if we wish to save our souls. 
Jesus tells us to pray always and never cease pray- 
ing. In order to continue His prayer Jesus has 
hidden Himself in the tabernacle on our altars. 

We see so many young people go astray and fall 
into sin, because they pray badly. Prayer is the 
breath of the soul. When the body no longer 
breathes it is dead ; in the same way if we cease 
to pray we are fast nearing the death of our soul. 
Prayer is a sign of spiritual health. St. Francis 
de Sales says if you pray well you are in good 
spiritual health. When John Berchmans assisted 
at Mass people used to gather to see him pray, and 
were so edified by his actions that they would say, 
" He is an angel." 

St. Aloysius Gonzaga was so engrossed in prayer 
that it was with difficulty that he could be called 
from it. Octave de Eavinel, a young Jesuit, prayed 
so well and so often that in his last sickness he 
said to the doctor who forbade him to speak, that 



JfiSUS AT PRATER. 215 

he was " very glad of it, for it will give me time 
to think uninterruptedly of Our Lord/' When 
death was coming on he was heard repeating, " 
Jesus, I love Thee; Jesus, I love Thee with all my 
soul." 

You, my children, can also accustom your- 
selves to such habitual prayer ; be encouraged to 
it by the command of Jesus and the good examples 
we have cited. Do not pray merely with your 
lips as the Jews did who were reproached by God, 
whilst their heart was far from Him. Go to Mass 
and to the Church services, as did the Child Jesus, 
who, according to the law of Moses, went to the 
Temple and celebrated the feasts. 

Youth is considered the springtime of life ; 
now in the spring the sun shines on the plants and 
trees so brightly and so warm that the flowers blos- 
som in abundance, the birds sing more gayly, and 
all nature seems to revive after a long and dreary 
winter. Piety and prayer are the beautiful sun of 
your youthful life, and under its benign influence 
the virtues ought to blossom and bear fruit for 
after years. Love prayer then, dear children, be 
pious, induce your parents to invite you to prayer; 
they will join you and will themselves feel the 
beneficent influence of this practical exercise of 
your religion. 



216 JESUS AT PMATEM. 

Piety is useful to all and the benefits of the 
present life as well as those of the future are 
promised us by means of it. 



Ube ttumtlit£ of tbe Cbilb 3esus, 

When He was your age, my dear children, Our 
Lord went to work with His foster-father St. Jo- 
seph, and walked modestly through the streets of 
the little village of Nazareth. He was dressed in a 
clean, but rough dress, carried heavy pieces of 
wood on His shoulders, and in His hands was a 
rude basket in which were carpenter's tools. The 
people of the village did not know who this Child 
was, but neighbors and acquaintances pointed Him 
out to the other youths of the place as a perfect 
model of a good boy, and they said to one another, 
"That is the little Carpenter and His father going 
to their day's work." And perfectly well did they 
know them, for in the after life of Jesus they re- 
fused to believe in Him, because He was the car- 
penter's son, and they did not know in what school 
Pie had learned all the heavenly wisdom which He 
taught. Still they knew Him not, because they 
could only see the exterior, which was no different 
from that of other youths, except that He was so 
good and no fault could be found in Him. Jesus 

217 



218 THE HUMILITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

was, however, happy to live thus unknown among 
these people. We learn from this the virtue of 
humility, and following Our Lord's example we 
should strive to be gentle and humble of heart. 

Pride is always a detestable vice, but is espe- 
cially abominable in young people. Let us also 
learn to be humble because it is such a becoming 
virtue, necessary not only in our youth, but 
throughout life. But How are we to acquire that 
virtue ? The whole may be summed up in a few 
words, namely, a youth practises this virtue when 
he remains quiet and content in the station he has 
inherited from his parents; when he does not wish 
to have more made of him than he is, a poor crea- 
ture that has to be sustained in existence by a 
perpetual miracle of God's power, one that is full 
of faults and capable of doing anything wicked. 
Of ourselves we are nothing ; we have nothing on 
which to pride ourselves • neither our talents, nor 
our good qualities, nor our genius, nor our ances- 
tors ought to be a source of pride to us, for all 
these are gifts from God ; and, because we have 
in many things been at fault, we deserve really to 
be despised by every one. 

A young man who is proud is in reality a liar, 
for he wants to appear what he is not and acts 
continually as if he wanted to make others believe 



THE HUMILITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 219 

in his excellence. To preserve us from this ridicu- 
lous pride or to cure us of it Our Lord hides His 
infinite majesty and appears in the modest, but 
lowly, garb of a workman. At His age He had 
mastered all science; He certainly could have held 
the highest place in the most brilliant school ; He 
would have put to shame the most learned teacher. 
Once when He appeared among the doctors He as- 
tonished them, and we see the extraordinary spec- 
tacle of a child teaching the learned men of His 
day. But in order to give glory to God His Father 
and to expiate your pride and teach you humility, 
Jesus condemned Himself to a long silence in His 
youth, up to His thirtieth year, and He only 
preached during three years of His life. Had this 
holy Child been treated as He deserved, He should 
have wielded a sceptre of power, worn a regal 
crown, and been dressed in purple. But w^hat 
should we think of a God who was covered with 
the vanities of this world, and what example 
would He have given to the youth of all times ! 
Youth is inclined to wear good clothes, to follow 
the fashions of the world, and to draw the atten- 
tion of every one to itself. On the contrary, 
the Son of the most humble Virgin desired to be 
the most humble youth on earth. He received only 
the education of the poor ; He chose only the sons 



220 THE HUMILITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

of poor people for His companions. He appeared 
to need to learn the trade of a carpenter as if He 
could neither read nor write. 

Pray then to this divine Child Jesus of Nazareth 
to obtain for you the grace to be humble. Abhor 
the ridiculous pretensions of your little vanities. 
Pride created hell and has never ceased to send 
souls to it. Humility is so natural to youth that 
Our Lord once publicly said, " Unless you become 
as little children, you shall not enter into the king- 
dom of heaven/' Young saints, your patrons, fol- 
lowing the Child Jesus, have distinguished them- 
selves by their humility. 

St. Aloysius Gonzaga was of princely extrac- 
tion : he might with all propriety have dressed in 
the richest and most fashionable manner, but he 
never wore rich clothing nor carried jewelry. One 
day, to let people see how little he cared for the 
consideration of the fashionable world, he went to 
the celebration of a feast in a very simple dress, 
on a horse which was put to shame by the animals 
which his companions rode. Nothing gave our 
young saint so much pain as to hear himself praised. 
Like St. Augustine, he considered praise a real 
punishment. At an examination from which he 
came with great distinction, he would not listen 
to praise. He was very much saddened when he 



THE HUMILITY OF THE CHILD JESUS, 221 

was told how great was his rank and the distinc- 
tion of his family. The same can be said of St. 
John Berchmans. When he was praised he always 
reminded people of the fact that he was the son 
of a poor workman ; he considered that the praises 
of man made little difference to him in the pres- 
ence of God. He used to say, " I must not forget 
what I have been ; that I am nothing but an ulcer 
from which comes corruption/' 

We read lately of a young man who died at the 
age of nineteen and was declared venerable by the 
Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII. This youth was 
never known to have committed a fault. But he 
was only a beggar who went about the streets of 
Naples. He was sickly, dressed in rags, emaciated 
by disease, and his sole possession was a little book, 
the Office of the Blessed Virgin, and a pair of 
beads. However, his humility, his resignation, 
gave him such a joyful countenance that every- 
body said " he is an angel," but he said, " I am 
but a poor sinner, and if I still have confidence 
in God, it is because my Saviour came into this 
world not for the just, but for sinners/' Often 
from humility he remained silent and prayed ; ha 
did not like to be noticed, nor to speak of him- 
self. So many miracles have occurred at his tomb 
that the Church, guided by God, is about to place 



222 THE HUMILITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

him on its altars and recommend him as the pat- 
ron of all young apprentices. 

Such is the humility, my dear children, of the 
young saints of God. The world may criticise 
them, and hate such examples of humility, but 
God has crowned them with glory and the Church 
praises their virtue before the whole world. 

This is certain and we are assured of it by the 
sacred Scriptures, that our true glory, our great 
glory, is to be a disciple of the humble Jesus. 



TLhc ©be&ience of tbe Cbil& Sesus* 

Disobedience dug the depths of hell. The 
devil was the first one that disobeyed God, and for 
him and his followers hell was created. Ever since 
then the devil seeks to make ns keep up the dis- 
obedience which he began against God ; he re- 
belled and was banished from heaven : in revenge 
he wishes to make us all disobedient, that we, too, 
will go to hell with him. Too often, indeed, does 
he succeed in gaining us over to his rebellion. Our 
first parents disobeyed God at the instigation of 
Satan, and they were sent out of paradise. 

Young people of bad dispositions, who have no 
heart, are always disobedient. They are ignorant, 
weak creatures, they want to be their own masters, 
they know better than any one else. How foolish 
this is ! And they can hardly be convinced of 
their wrong-doing. Our Lord while a youth 
preached quite a different kind of life. Great were 
the virtues which for thirty years He practised in 
Nazareth, and still nothing is said of them all, not 
one is mentioned, except this one virtue: " He was 

223 



224 THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

subject to them." The Holy Scriptures know the 
value of obedience, and have distinguished it ac- 
cordingly. 

Jesus was obedient. That is a great mystery 
indeed. Jesus the Child, the great God, who 
knows all, who must be obeyed, who cannot be 
mistaken because He is infinitely wise, obeys Jo- 
seph and Mary who, at best, were only creatures 
with the limited minds of creatures. But Our 
Lord obeys as a child ; and you will see Him obey 
when He is a grown man, and that He is not 
ashamed to be subject to the will of His Mother. 

What a great honor would it be to us if ours 
was that one distinction, that we were obedient ; 
that whatever order was given it was immediately 
obeyed ; that even anticipating the wishes of 
our parents and masters we should do what is 
to be done, so as to spare them the trouble 
of giving the order. Such good youths Our 
Lord will certainly love ; He will show them 
to His heavenly Father and say, " Here is My 
brother in the flesh, for he has no other desire than 
to obey your law." The angels themselves will 
applaud your obedience, for they will sing your 
praises, " Peace and happiness to the youth who 
obeys with good will." Great merit for all eternity 
you will of course gain by obedience. 



THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILD JESUS. 225 

In order that your obedience may be still more 
meritorious it must be a Christian virtue : not 
impelled by a mere human motive ; we must prac- 
tise the virtue in reference to God from a super- 
natural motive. Yeu obey your superiors because 
they are the representatives of God on earth. Then 
let your obedience be prompt, very willing, with- 
out a murmur, with a good heart, and all for God. 

Here is a young reprobate who stands up boldly 
and says : " I know what I'm about ; I obey God ; 
that's all ; I take no orders from any one/' 

God does not command us in person in every- 
thing. He delegates others who are to do that 
work for Him ; these are called our superiors. 
Hence when a young man has any sense he will 
be respectful to his superior, because in him he sees 
a representative of the authority of God, and 
usually God's orders are given to us by our su- 
periors. Angels are represented as having wings. 
Why ? What do wings mean ? Wings represent 
the prompt, willing, quick reception of the will of 
God and the executing of it. Mary called herself 
the handmaid of the Lord. Therefore a good 
young man above all else will be obedient : it will 
be the growth of his soul and body to obey the 
will of God. 

An obedient youth has no dangers to fear ; he 



226 THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

triumphs over temptations. The sacred Scrip- 
tures tell us that " An obedient man shall speak 
of victory." 

By order of his superior a lay Brother of an 
African mission had to go to a station afar off. 
At nightfall he reached a forest in which he knew 
ferocious wild beasts were prowling about. Sud- 
denly an enormous lion came along and was about 
to pounce on him, when the Brother with great 
coolness said, " Hold on, Fm here by order of my 
superiors ; you must not touch me ; let me go 
my way/'' We are told that the savage beast walked 
away as if ashamed of itself for having made such 
a mistake as to attack a man who was doing his 
duty. In obedience, at least at your time of life, 
my dear children, is salvation not only for life, 
but for eternity. 

Jesus obeyed even unto death. He has de- 
clared that in His disciples He expected the great 
virtue of obedience. In the lives of the saints there 
are magnificent examples of obedience. In the 
year 1613 a young religious, Jean Pinto, died. At 
the end of his religious life, whilst he was praying, 
Jesus appeared to him. The holy religious asked 
of Jesus as a favor that before his death he might 
be granted the grace of possessing the perfection 
of the virtues of charity and chastity. " What ? " 



TEE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILD JESUS. 227 

said Our Lord in return, with a reproachful tone, 
" What, Jean, you do not ask for the virtue of 
obedience ? " Then the servant of God quickly 
threw himself at the feet of Jesus and begged the 
virtue of obedience, and for the days still left to 
him on this earth he was the most perfect model 
of obedience. 

For your own good and to bring joy to the Heart 
of Jesus, resist the ordinary obstinacy and pride 
of most young men, who are too proud to be told 
anything. Obedience is required of us in what- 
ever position we may find ourselves in life. There 
is no need to take up time to prove this, but grown 
people, of years of experience, have found that 
no one is exempt from obedience. 

Be kind to those who are your superiors, make 
their task easy by your docility and amiability, 
take their advice and their counsel in good part, 
and when they have to correct you see that they do 
not find you unwilling, stubborn, or hard to man- 
age. Be an obedient child of the Church of God 
on earth, a good child of the holy Eoman Catholic 
Church ; obey her precepts, learn her teachings ; 
she is infallible ; be not ashamed to go to church, 
to say your prayers, and to show that you are a 
good young man, even though your companions 
laugh at you. 



228 THE OBEDIENCE OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

Honor the priests of the Church, for by them 
are dispensed the mysteries of the house of God. 

Obey the laws of the land. Let us not break the 
law even though we think it affects our personal 
liberty. Let us not gamble nor go to gambling 
dens, because it is against the law of the country. 
Let the same principle guide us in all things. 

" Eencler to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, 
and to God the things that are God's." But if a 
law should be bad, or unjust, be bold enough to 
denounce it as the martyrs of the early Church 
did, and as the apostles did who said, " We ought 
to obey God rather than men." 



Sesus tbe /IDo&el of f nbustrs* 

Jesus is the Son of God and a descendant of the 
kings of Israel. The Jews could not but know that 
He was of the royal house of David, for they had 
seen Joseph and Mary depart at the command of 
Caesar Augustus to be enrolled in the royal city of 
Bethlehem. Still we never find that Christ prided 
Himself on the title. He was known in His youth 
as the carpenter's son and helper. 

The calling of an honest working man is an 
honorable one, and not to be despised. At the 
head of the working men, as their patron, is Jesus 
Christ Our Lord, the Son of God, God Himself. 
From His early childhood He learned the use of 
tools. 

Dear children, if you are inclined to do noth- 
ing, and to pass your time idly; if you are vexed 
that you have to study or even to work in your 
youth, take your books or your tools to Nazareth 
to the carpenter shop of Joseph. There you will 
find the Child Jesus passing the greater part of 
His time in useful occupation for the purpose of 

229 



230 JESUS THE MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 

helping to gain a livelihood : and there He pre- 
pared Himself for thirty years for the great work 
of His life, the preaching of the Gospel, and, 
finally, for the great sacrifice of Himself on the 
cross. 

Enter that place with respect and adore God the 
Laborer. His holy house is known to us ; angels 
have taken it up and transported it to Loretto, to 
remove it from the profanation of the Mohamme- 
dans who are now dominant in the Holy Land. 
The house was among the poorest in Nazareth, it 
was lost among them, for there was nothing dis- 
tinctive in it; like the others it was built of a red 
limestone ; it had a vaulted roof, on which the 
family might take the air at certain times of the 
day and also assemble for prayer in common. 
Fig trees, olive trees, and oranges set it off beauti- 
fully, however. 

But what a miserable palace for the King of 
kings ! It was a house with a door towards the 
road, the rear abutted against the natural rock, 
and it was divided into three rooms. At the en- 
trance was a room used as a workshop : a carpen- 
ter's bench was the most conspicuous article of 
furniture, along the walls were hung saws and 
squares, here and there lay planes, on the floor 
were shavings and pieces of wood. The next room 



JESUS THE MODEL OP fflDUSTBY. 231 

was a kitchen and a sitting-room ; strangers were 
not admitted there; only relatives and intimate 
acquaintances entered there. In this chamber it 
is said that the archangel Gabriel visited Mary 
to announce to her the will of God in her behalf, 
that she should become the Mother of God. Be- 
yond this spot the house stood against a cave 
which, it is said, was the abode of the Child Jesus 
and to which He retired in prayer. Such was the 
home of this great Being whom the angels adore 
and before whom they veil their faces in adora- 
tion. We ought to blush before Jesus when we 
are opposed to work because w r e think ourselves 
above it. 

What was the work of the divine Infant Jesus 
when He grew to a greater strength? Joseph made 
wooden yokes for oxen, ploughs, boxes, trunks, and 
ladders. Carpentry, at that time in Nazareth, was 
a very small business ; houses w r ere built of stone, 
and the roofs were vaulted and needed no wood ; 
only the furniture of the house was made by the 
carpenter. This was the work of Jesus also, and 
for thirty years He continued it. He gained His 
livelihood by the sweat of His brow in fact; though 
He was the almighty God who created the world 
and could make what He wanted at His command. 
During all those years He held His divinity cap- 



232 JESUS THE MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 

tive and stripped it of all power ; He never called 
upon it to help Him in His temporal necessities. 
Whilst young men generally dislike work, Our 
Saviour gave us to understand how important 
faithful and continuous work is, 

Man is born for work as the bird is for flight. 
As soon as Adam was created and placed in para- 
dise God gave it to him to work in, regulate, and 
even beautify by the labor of his hands. It was 
of course a pleasant occupation, still it was work. 
Idleness is therefore in opposition to the will of 
God. Since sin came into the world labor has 
ceased to be a pleasant occupation, it has become 
an absolute necessity ; we are the sons of him to 
whom it was said after the Fall, " In the sweat of 
thy face thou shalt eat bread." " If any man will 
not work, neither let him eat." 

In the same way unless we cultivate the talents 
we have received from God, we shall remain in low 
ignorance; we shall not develop the latent powers 
of our mind ; we shall indulge in monstrous vices 
without remorse. The Holy Spirit says in the 
Scripture, " I passed by the field of the slothful 
man : it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had 
covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was 
broken down." Laziness teaches many vices and 
brings on many miseries. We often see young peo- 



JE8VS THE MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 233 

pie without education who are good, excellent peo- 
ple, but it is because they are not idlers; they work 
hard by day and by night. There is a glory in 
work. But there never was an idler free from vice; 
immorality, drunkenness, thievery often go hand 
in hand with the idle man. Work is the shield of 
virtue. 

We have often seen pictures of the Holy Family, 
but each one is depicted as busy at something. 
Mary is represented as spinning, Joseph is at his 
work-bench, Jesus is doing some minor thing ; but 
all are at work. The scene is varied only when 
they are represented in prayer. Go to that school 
of labor, my dear children, there to learn applica- 
tion to your work. This must be your motto, at 
study or in the workshop: work with Jesus before 
your eyes. If you write, you may, with the eye 
of faith, see your guardian angel bending over you 
witnessing the movements of the pen. At your 
age Jesus worked to the best of His ability ; you, 
also, should do the same. Your divine Companion 
was a laborer for the purpose of setting you an 
example. When you grow tired., or rather when 
you feel an attack of laziness, say to yourself : 
" This work is for the glory of my dear Infant 
Jesus. It must not be done carelessly, for then 
it would not be worthy to be offered to Him." 



234 JESUS THE MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 

Try to acquire a liking for work, by forcing 
yourself to it at first ; do not play when it is time 
for work ; encourage yourself by looking at Jesus 
at work, and a love of work will soon come. The 
obligation to work is in fact a religious obligation. 
We ought to work because we have to help others; 
if not now, at least in the future. It also conduces 
to health to employ the body at the work to which 
you are called. No work is low or unworthy of 
your dignity. 

If you are a young man, still at your studies, 
thank Jesus that He has given you an occupation 
easier and pleasanter than was His. Then the as- 
siduity with which He labored should spur you on 
to make such progress as your teachers expect of 
you. Our Lord, according to the Gospel, had little 
time to be taught ; but we have one example of 
His which will teach us how to behave in school. 
When He was twelve years old Our Lord remained 
in Jerusalem listening to the doctors of the law. 
He maintained there a grave silence; He was atten- 
tive and modest, and His manner excited the in- 
terest of the doctors ; they conceived such a great 
respect for Him that they did not hesitate to an- 
swer His questions and even listened to Him ex- 
plain the Scriptures in His superior way. Keep, 



JESUS THE MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 235 

then, this picture before you of Jesus going to 
school : it is the only authentic one known. 

We read of the Blessed Virgin that in her child- 
hood she served in the Temple. There the day 
was divided between study, work, and prayer. She 
used the needle in making things necessary for 
the house of God ; she studied the Scriptures ; 
she prayed as no one ever prayed before. You 
would gain many great graces if you placed your- 
self under her direction and invoked her help in 
your studies. 

St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church 
and one of the most glorious teachers of our holy 
faith, studied and prayed. When he did not un- 
derstand his studies he received enlightenment in 
his prayers. Often when he groped in the dark 
in his studies he wrote out his lesson, and placing 
the paper in his bosom he went to Mass, and then 
it somehow became perfectly clear to him. 

Now, little worker, have courage in your under- 
taking ; the God who gave you this work will 
bless you, and all will become easy. Be not of the 
army of lazy people ; do not give yourself over to 
careless reading, or lose your time reading bad 
books. That is not work, at most it is a pastime. 
The life of man is but a day ; you are now in your 



236 JESUS THE MODEL OF INDUSTRY. 

youth, at the dawn of the day ; do not hesitate 
in the work that is before you, so that when the 
day is over you may say with Jesus dying on the 
cross, " It is consummated." Happy are you when 
you can say, " I have done my duty, and I have 
done it according to the graces given me." Christ 
will turn to you with a smile of content on His 
face as you leave this world of toil, and He will 
introduce you to the eternal enjoyment of rest in 
heaven. 



XCbe Mortification of tbe Cbilfc Jesus* 

We have to carry our cross to the end of our 
life ; no one is without a cross ; this world is so 
full of crosses that not only has each one his own, 
but there are a multitude to spare, so that if you 
escape one there are many others waiting for you. 
But these crosses are good for us ; they are the 
ladder by which we shall mount to heaven. Our 
dear Lord, the Child Jesus, offers to you also, my 
children, a cross : it is the cross of penance and 
mortification. This cross is necessary for our sal- 
vation, for it is the sign of it. It is the sign of the 
Christian who enters into this world ; this is a life 
which we enter with tears, because it is a sinful 
life. It is a short one, full of pains, miseries, and 
troubles ; a life of sickness and suffering in body, 
soul, and heart : such is life, and such has it been 
made by sin. 

To accept all these inconveniences and contrari- 
eties in a spirit of resignation and joy is already 
quite a great deal in the way of mortification, and 
we are bearing our cross which we received on en- 

237 



238 THE MORTIFICATION OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

tering the world. But we know that this is not 
sufficient. We must take on ourselves voluntary 
penances which will give us strength to triumph 
over our passions. We should be very much en- 
couraged in doing this, for we know that the youth 
of Christ was passed in mortification and privation. 
Kemember, first, that He was poor, He had noth- 
ing on this earth. See Him at table ; how w r as 
He clothed, in what kind of house did He live ? 
He lived among poor people, without luxuries, 
sometimes without even the necessaries of life. 

A holy Doctor says that sometimes, after a hard 
day's work, Joseph could not get his honestly 
earned wages and was forced, perhaps, to beg his 
food. If Our Lord had but wished it, all that was 
wanting would be forthcoming. But the Holy 
Family wished to surfer the pinches of poverty in 
order that you may learn to take sometimes of that 
hard medicine of penance. We should not cer- 
tainly be too dainty in our demands at table. 

The Gospel tells us nothing of the secret sacri- 
fices which the Youth Jesus had to make, nor 
does it speak of the voluntary mortifications which 
He added to His laborious life. St. John the Bap- 
tist in his youth lived a very holy and mortified 
life. He was very young when he left his parents' 
house to go into the desert ; he clothed himself 



THE MORTIFICATION OF THE CHILD JESUS. 239 

in a camelVhair gown, he lived on locusts and 
wild honey, slept in a cave, and never drank any 
wine. He suffered cold, was exposed to the rain, 
the wind, the heat of the sun, on the edge of the 
desert near the banks of the river Jordan. Jesus 
saw His servant do this and commended him for 
it, and we may surely conclude that the youth of 
Jesus was passed in the same manner in Nazareth. 
Our Lord was so satisfied with the austere life of 
St. John the Baptist that He commended him pub- 
licly and received Baptism at his hands. 

Fasts, retirement, mortifications of any kind, are 
not to the taste of worldly young men ; they 
despise them and are afraid of them, as if 
beyond their strength. Parents, too, become 
alarmed when they see signs of piety in their young 
men, as if holy practices would be detrimental to 
the health of their children. But the grace of 
God has always raised youthful saints who imi- 
tated the mortified youth of Jesus Christ. 

Let us take at haphazard one example which is 
perhaps new. In 1832 there was in France a certain 
Sister Mary Eose who died in the odor of sanc- 
tity. From her childhood she practised astonish- 
ing acts of mortification. At the age of fourteen, 
with the consent of her parents and her confessor, 
she retired to a solitary place where she found a 



240 THE MORTIFICATION OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

cave. There she lived on herbs, berries, and roots. 
" What more does a person want, when she loves 
God ? " she used to say. For seven years she lived 
there in prayer, work, and penance. Sometimes 
she went to the church to receive the sacraments, 
but these were the only times she left her abode. 
She then became a Sister of Notre Dame, and this 
was at a time when it was dangerous to have any 
religion at all in France. She was afterwards sent 
to the isle of Majorca, where she lived and con- 
tinned her penances, and there she died a holy 
death. Many miracles were wrought at her tomb, 
so that at the present time they are preparing in 
Eome for her solemn beatification. 

St. Basil and St. Gregory lived together in re- 
tirement in a pagan town, imitating in His honor 
the mortified life of Christ in Nazareth. During 
all the years that they resided in Athens for study 
they so mortified their curiosity that they never 
went out sight-seeing in that beautiful city ; they 
never went to the temples or the theatres ; they 
knew only the way to the church or to their school. 
What are we to think of those young people who 
are never happy unless they are away from home, 
free from the supervision of their parents ? Such 
people are enemies of the good Jesus who for 
thirty years hid Himself closely in a small, insigni- 



THE MORTIFICATION OF THE CHILD JESUS. 241 

flcant village, and never lost sight of His heavenly 
Father. 

Jesus is not to be found in the busy bustling 
streets, nor in public gardens, nor in theatres 
where so many young people lose their innocence. 
Jesus kept a close guard over His eyes, He shut 
His ears to the scandals of the little world about 
Him, He watched over all His senses. How do 
we know this ? We know it from the actions of 
the saints, who, after all, were but a faint reflection 
of the beauty of the virtues of the life of Jesus. 
St. Aloysius Gonzaga was so modest with his eyes 
that his companions did not know the color of 
them. He never looked into the face of the queen 
whose page he was, though he met her often dur- 
ing the day. 

Our Lord certainly did not listen to the grand 
music of the world : His character precluded such 
levity. He delighted only in the singing of the 
Psalms of David as rendered with greatest solem- 
nity in the Temple. Worldly music we can avoid; 
it will not do much towards your education, nor 
add to your refinement. 

Have the courage of your convictions as regards 
gambling : that is a vice which leads many a 
young man to destruction. When you feel you 
have a little money in your pocket do not choose 



242 THE MORTIFICATION OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

for companions those who will show you gambling 
places where yon can lose your money pleasantly, 
among alluring surroundings, in eating, drinking, 
and carousing. 

St. Edmund learned from his mother, from his 
earliest youth, little acts of mortification. His 
mother taught him to fast on bread and water 
every Friday, and made for him a little hair-shirt, 
which he wore constantly. When he went to Paris 
to complete his studies his mother always sent with 
the linen which he needed some new, simple in- 
strument of penance. " These are," she wrote to 
him, " the arms of a young man who is anxious 
to please his Master, Jesus Christ, and by them 
the purity of the soul as well as of the body will 
be guarded." St. Aloysius Gonzaga made for him- 
self a discipline with which he scourged himself to 
the blood. He ate so little that it was true to say 
of him he was always fasting. 

These little mortifications are agreeable to Our 
Lord, your model. 

The people of the world look very sorrowful 
when Our Lord offers them His cross and tells 
them it is necessary to embrace it if they wish to 
go to heaven. They must, at least in their heart, 
despise many of the practices of the world which, 
if indulged in, make salvation very doubtful. 



THE MORTIFICATION OF THE CHILD JESUS. 243 

We certainly are not called upon to do great and 
extraordinary penances; still we ought not on that 
account think we need not practise any. There 
are many ways of mortifying ourselves which we 
will scarcely feel and which will not do us any 
injury. For example., we should not complain of 
what is placed before us at table; let us give up 
some favorite dish ; do not eat or drink between 
meals, give up foolish or dangerous reading ; rise 
a little earlier in the morning, and do so 
promptly; and many other little practices. Surely 
the divine Youth will consider us His friends if 
we do these things, and thus after bearing our 
cross in this life we may look forward to a crown 
in heaven. 




Ube Cbaritp of tbe Cbilfc Jesus 



Whex we love God sincerely we must do what 
He commands. One of the great commandments 
of God is to love our neighbor : to love every hu- 
man being, for every one is our neighbor, rich 
and poor, learned and ignorant, sick and well. The 
Youth Jesus whom we are considering in this little 
book had so much loVe for His heavenly Father 
that He could truthfully say, " I seek not My own 
will, but the will of Him that sent Me/' God the 
Father committed to Jesus the office of saving 
mankind, and sent Him to this earth to fulfil that 
charitable mission. The youthful Saviour has al- 
ready begun that work ; He had begun it in fact 
when He was conceived. A great service was done 
for the human race when He became man, just like 
ourselves in everything except sin. A young prince 
who, to make himself popular with his people, 
dresses like them, works as hard as they, and en- 
ters into their joys and sorrows, would be consid- 
ered as giving positive proof of his condescension 
and of his love. Jesus in His youth and His child- 

244 



CHARITY OF THE CHILI) JESUS. 245 

hood has done more than 'this. He took upon 
Himself the state and condition of a laborer, and 
before preaching charity He passed His youth in 
retirement, He labored hard so as to make our 
lot the easier and to render more meritorious the 
labors we do in His honor. Charity is the sign by 
which Our Lord recognizes His friends and His 
disciples. This He has declared openly. Pagans and 
Jews never practised the rule which desires us to 
do unto others as we w^ould they should do unto 
us. They held that revenge is permissible pro- 
vided it does not exceed justice. They thought 
that all is done that can be expected when they 
are kind to their friends. But Our Lord coming 
into this world taught a higher law of charity, a 
charity so great that the most enlightened people 
could not understand it. He taught us to love 
cihers as we love ourselves. Jesus even went fur- 
ther : He loved us even more than Himself, since 
He died for us to give us life, and to give us back 
the right to heaven which we had lost ; He taught 
that heaven would be closed on us unless we could 
show that our love for our neighbor was perfect. 
You must then love your fellow-men for the 
love of Jesus ; all these are your brothers, and 
Our Lord will reward you for the least service done 
to them. Do not vent your bad humor on your 



246 CHARITY OF THE CHILI) JESUS. 

companions, do not call them names, do not fight 
with them and be spiteful towards them. Your 
unkindness will displease the youthful Jesus, and 
He will punish you for it, because you are not act- 
ing as His disciple. So the charity of the good 
Christian is not circumscribed by the narrow limits 
of relations or acquaintances — it goes out wherever 
it is needed. The Catholic youth will learn to give 
alms, to relieve the poor, and to do good with the 
money he can spare. Do not save your money in 
order to spend it in a bad way, as many young 
people do who see in money only a means of pro- 
curing pleasure. They would rather gamble than 
give to a good purpose the money risked at play ; 
they would rather buy drink or tobacco with it 
than relieve the necessities of others. A great deal 
can be done by little savings though they be only 
pennies ; but these pennies put together make 
a very serviceable sum for a good purpose. 

Give a little to the Peter's Pence, to the Society 
for the Propagation of the Faith, to the Holy In- 
fancy, to the support of a church. You can, if 
really pious and full of faith, give towards the 
ornamenting of the altar, or supply oil for the 
lamp of the Blessed Sacrament. You may have 
Masses said for the souls in purgatory, and occa- 
sion will offer to do many little kindnesses to your 



OHAEITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 247 

companions, to the sick and the poor, even though 
it cost you some of the money set apart for pleas- 
ure. Such holy, generous charity is very pleasing 
to almighty God and to the Youth Jesus and they 
have shown their approbation of it, so as to en- 
courage it. Thus, St. John of God once found a 
poor beggar lying in the street and unable to pro- 
ceed further. The saint made himself acquainted 
with the case, and finding that terrible sores were 
on the beggar's feet, he procured what was neces- 
sary to put them in as good condition as possible. 
Then, to see whether the sufferer was somewhat 
relieved, our saint looked into the beggar's face, 
when he was struck with the likeness it bore to the 
face of Jesus Christ. 

The young person who imitates the holy youth 
of Jesus Christ will also be charitable in his words. 
He will never speak evil of his neighbor, nor ca- 
lumniate him. If you cannot speak w^ell of a per- 
son, say nothing ; do not recount scandals or sus- 
pect evil ; do not put a false construction on any 
action. We will not see anything good in others 
if we are continually criticising them. 

Always give good example to others : as a good 
Christian youth you are bound to do this on all 
occasions and under all circumstances. In the 
opinion of good people those who never have any- 



248 CHARITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

thing good to say of their neighbor must be bad 
themselves. Never to see any good in others, and 
to lie about them, is about the worst reputation a 
man can acquire. What a beautiful life our divine 
Youth Jesus Christ must have led ! He never did 
any wrong, and people saw this. He Himself has 
said : " So let your light shine before men that 
they may see your good works and glorify your 
Father who is in heaven." The youthful Jesus in 
conversation never blamed others or spoke of their 
wrong-doings. Had He done so, how terrible it 
would have been to the sinner, who knew that 
Jesus read his heart ! 

Every day the Youth Jesus carried water to His 
Mother Mary from the only well that even now is 
found in Nazareth. Often the inhabitants asked 
Him for some of the water He carried ; Our Lord 
readily gave it, giving at the same time the same 
grace which He gave to the woman of Samaria, the 
grace of conversion. There is a tradition that one 
day Our Lord had to go seven times to the fountain 
before He could fetch water to His Mother. Great 
must have been the charity of Our Lord ; the love 
that was within Him continually showed itself for 
others. 

Just as Our Lord loved every one, so also young 
Christians must love their neighbor and do good 



CHARITY OF 1HE CHILD JESUS. 249 

to him. Do you also show such kindness to your 
neighbor ? Do you relieve his misery in every way 
possible to you ? God will remember every act of 
charity^and reward even a cup of cold water given 
in His name to the least, the most degraded fellow- 
man. 

St. Martin of Tours, when still a catechumen, — 
that is, one who is preparing for Baptism, — and 
whilst he was a soldier, one day met in midwinter 
a poor man who had on scarcely any clothes. 
Martin cut his cloak in two and in the name of 
Christ gave part to the poor man. Jesus saw the 
action from heaven, for the next day Martin saw 
Our Lord wearing that piece of cloak and calling 
with exultation, " With this vesture did Martin 
the catechumen cover Me." 

What a beautiful world this would be if all were 
charitable! There is enough good material in it to 
make a paradise of it. But perfect charity is too 
much wanting ; in fact each individual seriously 
fails especially in this one respect, that he has too 
little charity and feeling for others. 

If in your youth you practise charity, what great 
things will you do when you have grown old in the 
service of your neighbor ! Nothing makes a man 
so great among his fellow-men as the spending of 
himself entirely in the service of his neighbor. 



250 CHARITY OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

We may see the monuments of great statesmen, 
of kings, of inventors, but the greatest monument 
of all is the grateful remembrance of a charitable 
man. 

When our day is over God will be kind to us 
and show us charity. After the judgment of the 
world, when all things are set to rights for eter- 
nity, you will hear the grand invitation : " Come 
ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat ; I was 
thirsty, and you gave Me to drink ; I was naked, 
and you covered Me ; I was in prison, and you 
came to Me. Enter thou into the joy of the 
Lord ! " 



TLbe Xcal ot tbe CbUfc Jesus* 

My dear children, let us also imitate our dear 
Lord in His zeal. Do not suppose you have no 
reason to be zealous for God and His holy religion. 
Zeal is love of our neighbor put in practice : zeal 
makes apostles and enables them to bring many to 
heaven. Zeal is a burning fire which inflames our 
heart to make noble sacrifices, We, too, must have 
zeal because we have to contribute to the salvation 
of others. Jesus is the Saviour of mankind ; it is 
His privilege, His mission to save mankind from 
hell. Jesus means Saviour ; to save us He came 
from heaven ; for this He became man ; for this 
He established His Church. Every moment of the 
life of Our Lord was given over to that end to save 
mankind. His prayers and mortifications, His 
preaching, all His actions were destined for that 
end, the salvation of mankind. Our Lord, there- 
fore, had a zeal for the salvation of souls ; it was 
His great delight to bring souls to God. Even be- 
fore His birth He worked for the salvation of man- 
kind. 

251 



252 ZEAL OF THE GET LB JESUS. 

It was He that influenced Mary to hasten across 
the mountains to visit St. Elizabeth, in order that 
St. John might be sanctified and that the precur- 
sor of Christ should not remain long in sin. As 
soon as He was born He sent out to gather in 
the good shepherds and bring them to the foot of 
the manger in order to fill their hearts with joy 
for the birth of the Messias. The zeal of Our Lord 
appeared in the childhood of Our Lord when the 
idols fell down and were broken in His flight to 
Egypt. He prayed that those people sitting in the 
darkness of idolatry might be converted. His 
prayer w r as heard, for those deserts were afterwards 
peopled by numbers of saints who lived there a 
pious, mortified, retired life. As Our Lord grew 
up His zeal also increased, the prayers, the tears of 
Our Lord were redoubled. What untold good was 
exerted on the young people about Him by His 
holy conversation and His good example ! 

You, too, my children, according to your ability 
and according to your age, must have zeal. Help 
Our Lord in the work He did, or, rather, continue 
the good w r ork of zeal in which He was engaged. 
You are called to do something in this way, and 
you can do it at all times by good example : good 
example goes further, generally, than long 
speeches. The Latin proverb says that examples 



ZEAL OF TEE CHILD JESUS. 253 

draw, whilst words will only move. When the 
young people of Nazareth saw the piety, the obedi- 
ence, the industry, the sweetness of disposition of 
Our Lord, they wished to be like Him, they imi- 
tated Him, and practised the same virtues. 

The fellow-students of St. John Berchmans were 
influenced in the same manner by his holy life ; 
many became better for it, their hearts were 
raised to God, their conversation became chaste; 
so that we see that the blessed influence of the 
saint came upon those even who were unwilling 
to be led. 

During the long time of Our Lord's retirement 
in Nazareth He saved souls especially by prayer. 
How much may you, my dear children, also gain 
by your prayers ! St. Francis Xavier converted 
many thousand idolaters by prayer. St. Teresa 
once had a vision in which she was bid to pray 
and was told at the same time that her prayers 
were as fruitful in conversions as were the labors 
of the Apostle of the Indies. Pray, then, for the 
conversion of sinners, for the preservation in grace 
of the just, but pray constantly. 

Many children belong to the Apostleship of 
Prayer, to the League of the Sacred Heart, This 
is a pious army which by prayer will obtain many 
graces from God. It gives you motives for prayer: 



254 ZEAL OF THE CHILD JESUS. 

all the good works that may be done, all the neces- 
sities of the Church and of society, are suggested 
that you may make an effort towards doing good 
to all. A young man zealous for the love of God 
can invent many ways of approaching others to 
their good ; do some good, and you will find an 
opportunity of saying a kind word ; and, so, in a 
spirit of friendship you will recall others to their 
duty, you will induce them to pray, and lead them 
to go to confession and communion. St. Stanislaus 
had recourse to tears to atone for the offences done 
to God by his companions. He fainted when God's 
name was irreverently spoken or when improper 
talk was introduced ; so that his father would say, 
" Now, gentlemen, stop that talk ; you see what 
annoyance it gives to my beloved Stanislaus/' 

Zeal goes even to the prison where our dear dead 
are held in durance preparatory to being admitted 
to heaven ; by prayer, alms, fasting, communions, 
indulgences you can aid them. These practices of 
piety take the place of the flames of purgatory in 
cleansing. John Berchmans once found a small 
sum of money, which he took to a priest to have 
a Mass said for the souls in purgatory. But zeal 
reaches its perfection when at the call of God you 
renounce the world and consecrate yourself to the 
service of God in a religious house or by studying 



ZEAL OF THE CHILD JESUS. 255 

for the priesthood. What a great privilege it is to 
be God's servant approaching so closely to the 
throne of mercy ! Then you are a real apostle, 
yon are called by a vocation peculiarly your own, 
yon hear the interior voice and you hearken to it. 
You are proud of that calling ; you fit yourself 
from your school-days for college and the semi- 
nary. What an honor is such a vocation and what 
a blessing for a family ! It is the greatest distinc- 
tion that can be given to a family to have a son 
consecrated to the priesthood. Do not mind your 
youth ; youth is the time to make generous sacri- 
fices and to feel them least. Our Lord showed His 
parents that He had a right if He wished to use 
it, of leaving them and their protection. St. John 
was doing it ; why should not Christ ? When, 
therefore, Our Lord at twelve years of age re- 
mained in Jerusalem unknown to His parents and 
caused them great alarm by His disappearance, He 
wished to show parents that in the matter of voca- 
tion they mnst not interfere, but must allow their 
children perfect liberty, and help them, after- 
wards, in their honest choice. The vocation of 
yonth is a most sacred right : what they feel 
within of a call from God must be respected by 
the parents. Of course the parents ought to he 
consulted, and with their advice and that of a pro- 



256 THE ZEAL OF JESUS CHRIST 

dent confessor, there is generally no difficulty in 
arriving at a happy conclusion. 

In whatever career you find yourself be unite 1 
to the will of God and your zeal for the work as- 
signed to you will prove your love for God. To 
all of us has been committed the care of the sal- 
vation of our neighbor, and we ought not say with 
Cain's brazen effrontery, " Am I my brother's 
keeper ? " At your daily avocation, at your stud- 
ies, you may be your brother's keeper by giving 
good example and counsel. To save others is to 
save yourself. But pray to the Blessed Virgin 
and to St. Joseph that they w r ho looked after the 
temporal welfare of the youth Jesus may also ex- 
tend their care to you in this life and bring you 
to a happy eternity. 



And now, my dear children, let us ever bear in 
mind the holy example of the Divine Child; let 
our life be pure and innocent as that of the chil- 
dren He loved so well, and, following in His foot- 
steps, we shall at last come to that heavenly home 
which He has promised to all who become as little 
ones. 



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